


Embers in the dark

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: FEELY FEELS, Feels, Fluff, Fluffly Fluff Fluff, I tried my best, M/M, Valdangleo, actual devlopment, ghostfire, the forsaken ship, touchy feely fluffly feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-10-17
Packaged: 2018-02-16 05:37:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2257815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After running his mouth, Leo's managed to piss off a minor god who out right refuses to give the eight demigods the information they need to get on with their quest unless they find an obscure relic and return it, so in an attempt to get the irritating side quest over, everyone breaks into teams of two to find it. Everyone except for Leo who has to watch the ship in case of attack, and Nico who just wanted an excuse to stay behind on the ship. </p><p>*Annabeth and Percy never fell into Tartarus.<br/>*This fic takes place a few weeks after Mark of Athena<br/>*Coach hedge is visiting his girlfriend which is why he can't babysit the ship and doesn't appear in the fic. Poor goat needs 2 see his bae.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Say what now?” Leo blurted.

          Jason shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

“Look, I know you don’t really get along-”

“Because he’s _freaking creepy_!” Leo hissed.

“Well I’m sorry okay? You’re the only one who can maneuver the Argo right and someone has to help guard the ship.” Said Jason

          Leo shook his head and thought as he pulled a light wrench out of his belt and started twirling it on his finger.

“He’s not a bad guy Leo.” Jason pleaded.

“Then why does he always look like he’s gonna’ drag us to the underworld?” Leo grumbled.

“ . . .He’s just got some stuff to work out is all.”

“Like what!?” Leo snapped

“I-I can’t talk about that. Anyway, Nico traveled alone a lot so he’s not used to the whole team player thing yet.” said Jason

“Yeah alright then, but why does _he_ have to stay back? Why not you or Piper?” Leo whined.

 “We have to split up since it’s not safe for demigods to walk alone, so we at least needed three groups of two, and everyone already paired up.” said Jason   

          Leo’s face fell into an unimpressed scowl as he gripped his wrench.

“Fine. _Whatever works.”_ Leo spat before storming off.

          The night sky was filled with large white clouds as the moon peaked out from behind them every now and then, throwing odd patches of sliver light across the deck. He could hear the clomping hooves of Percy’s Pegues as it landed, and their laughter as he and Annabeth took off. Jason would probably just carry Piper down to land, and Frank would shape shift into something that could fly to take Hazel down.

          Leo let out a bitter laugh as leaned against the mast of the ship. He started twirling his wrench again, occasionally throwing it up and catching it.

 _Of course_ everyone would pair up with their boyfriend slash girlfriend.

 It was bad enough when Piper and Jason started dating, but when he meet everyone else, he thought with so many people there’s no way he could feel like such third wheel. But surprise surprise! Everyone on this damn ship is dating each other. What’re the odds?

“Why does this always happen to me?” Leo sighed as he stared at the ground.

“Hey!”

          Leo flinched and took a step back.

Nico caught his wrench out of the air and held it out.

 _“I said_ , if you need me I’ll be in the crow’s nest. Try not to set anything on fire.” Nico grumbled.

          Leo stepped forward and snatched his wrench back.

“As long as you don’t drag me to the underworld in my sleep.”

          Nico’s perpetual glare scrunched into an amused, yet irritated scowl.

“Keep your mouth shut, and I won’t have too.” Nico growled in a low voice before he started climbing up the mast.

          Leo scanned the deck. Everyone had gone and it was just the two of them. But since Nico was up so high, it felt like he was compleatly alone.

  _As always._

          Patches of light moved across the deck as he walked past the foremast, then climbed onto the masthead, or as he preferred to call it, his best friend Festus. The bronze dragon’s head was warm and he made little whirring noises to greet Leo.

          “At least I have you buddy.” Leo smiled.

          To be honest, it was probably a little dangerous to be sitting on the edge of the ship thousands of miles above open ocean, but he’d done plenty of dangerous things before, and sitting still on his own ship didn’t rack up very high on the list. Besides, whenever he felt like this, next to Festus was the only place he could feel better. Well working in the engine room would help get his mind off it too, but it was a beautiful night out for once. Not too hot and sticky like when they were over the Mediterranean, but not freezing cold and windy like the northern Atlantic. The air here was a little on the warm side, but brisk, cool breezes blew through often, so the weather felt perfect. He made a mental note to fly over the Indian Ocean more often as he leaned back with his arms behind his head and stared at the moon.

“It’s gonna’ be a long night.” Leo grumbled as he closed his eyes.

          Afer a while, Festus started making a loud grumbling noise as a cold wind blew through.

“Come on Festus, I’m tryna take a nap here.” Leo grumbled as he squeezed his eyes shut and gave a gentle kick to the dragon’s head.

          Festus only growled louder, and started heating up like a burner. If anyone else were sitting on him they would’ve jumped off before turning into an extra crispy french-fry, but the heat didn’t really bother Leo; so he just covered his ears and tried to sleep.

He was about to get up and find somewhere else to nap, when booming thunder suddenly crackled overhead.

 _“What?”_ Leo thought as he opened his eyes. 

          The sky was clear of storm clouds and the wind had gone warm again.

“Huh . . .” Leo muttered.

          He laid back down to go to sleep, but before he could close his eyes he was suddenly blown backwards off the ship.

          Leo tried to scream, but his voice died in his throat. He felt dizzy and numb as he hurdled down toward the ocean. He’d hit the water before he could build anything to save him, and even if he had time, what would he make? There was nothing but miles of ocean here and the sick, lonely feeling in his chest messed with his head.

For once in his life, he was out of ideas.

          Whether from cold, or fear, his eyes stung as he blinked back tears.

 _“I wonder if anyone will miss me.”_ Leo thought.

          And then with a hard impact, everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://ghostfiremyfire.tumblr.com/
> 
> That's my writing tumblr! Where i put stuff i write and stuff that inspries me for writieng! 
> 
> http://www.wattpad.com/story/24965502-please-don%27t
> 
> If you like my writieng and would like to support me as a writer, please check out my original work!!


	2. Inferno

The back of his head slammed into hard wood, and when he opened his eyes he was staring up at the clear night sky.

“W-What?” said Leo

          He tried to sit up, but there was something heavy on his chest. Well there _was_ until Nico rolled over and started breathing on his hands and knees like he just ran a marathon. 

“Whats going o-”

“WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING!?” Nico screamed as he turned.

“What?” said Leo

          Nico got up so fast his jacket fell off his shoulders, but he didn’t seem to notice as he clenched his fists so thin blue vines pressed up into his bare arms. His jaw was tense, flexing every now and then like he was trying not to scream.  

“There was a horde of Venti coming on the port side but when I yelled to warn you _ignored me._ Why!?” Nico growled

“O-Oh . . . I was kinda plugging my ears-”

 _“WHY!?”_ Nico yelled

“I WAS TRYING TO GET SOME SLEEP!” Leo yelled back.

“ _Why the hell_ would you sleep on the masthead of a ship _thousands of feet over an ocean!?”_ Nico laughed as his eyes went wide in rage and disbelief.

          Because he was upset and wanted to clear his head? Because he was feeling lonely and the only one who would comfort him was his own ship? Because it’s hard to think straight when you feel like utter shit and your friends leave you behind like they always do?

“Because I felt like it!” Leo yelled.

          Nico went gap mouthed as he took a step back and ran a hand through his shaggy black hair. He turned and burst out in an angry laugh that melted into a low growl.

“You are the most _idiotic_ demigod I’ve _ever_ had the misfortune to meet.” Nico growled as he took a step forward. “Why are you even on this ship?” he snapped with a wave of his hand.

          Leo stumbled back and choked on his breath.

“You always set things on fire—” Nico yelled as he stepped forward.

“Every time you go on a mission with someone we have to send _twice_ as many people to make sure _you_ don’t mess up!—” Nico hissed as he backed Leo into the mast.

“And if _you_ hadn’t pissed that minor god off with your _freaking jokes_ we wouldn’t have waste time looking for his stupid scepter! Now until they find it we can’t get the information to get on with the quest!” Nico yelled.

          Leo balled the fabric of his shirt in his fists and looked away as he tried to will the tears in his eyes away.

 _“WELL!?”_ Nico yelled.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Leo screamed as he burst into flames.

          Nico recoiled and jumped back.

“Who the hell are you to tell me I don’t belong on this ship!?” Leo yelled as he wiped his eyes and marched foreword.  “Just because I’m not as strong as Jason or a good fighter like Frank doesn’t mean I can’t do anything!”

          Nico backed up and put an arm over his eyes as he squinted to see.

“I _built_ this ship! My mistakes aren’t any of your business!” Leo screamed.

          Nico stopped backing up, and gripped a hand around Leo’s throat. His black shirt immediately caught on fire and it burned the skin on his pale arm bright red, but his face was cold and unphased as he looked down at Leo with a death glare.

“It _is_ my problem because when you screw up, who do you think has to clean up you mess!? Everything you do affects everyone else on this ship.” Nico growled in a low voice.

          Leo’s eyes went wide as the fire around him died down. His head felt light and the image of Nico’s enraged face went blurry.

“People like you do whatever they want without thinking! Your almost as bad as-” Nico’s voice died as he looked away.

          Nico’s grip on Leo’s throat suddenly went weak, and the boy yanked himself away.

 _“Don’t_ touch me.” Leo gasped as he tried to breath.

          Nico turned back to face him, but his gaze went up as his eyes went wide.

“Watch out!” Nico yelled.

          Leo scowled in confusion as he turned around, but before he could see everything went black, and he got the same cold sensation he got when he was falling of the ship. When he could see again, he was suddenly sitting in the crow’s nest of the foremast, watching as the main mast creaked and slowly fell back onto the quarter deck, consumed in flames.

 _“What the hell?”_ A voice yelled.

          Leo turned to his left to see Percy Jackson, gap mouthed and horrified as he watched the deck burn with Annabeth sitting behind him on Black Jack’s back.

“Leo what’s going on?” Jason’s voice called to his right.

          He was staring with a disappointed, shocked expression as he sat on Tempest’s back with Piper.

          Finally, a small flurry of long feathers fell down as he looked up to find Hazel sitting on the lateral bars jutting out of the post next to what looked like the world’s largest eagle, that then shifted into a horrified Frank.

“What’s going on?” Frank gasped.

“Well it looks like _somebody_ set the mast on fire!” Percy snapped as he threw a glare at Leo. “Jason help me make a storm to put out the fire.”

          Percy helped Annabeth into the crow’s nest as Piper jumped in after.

“Nico what happened?” Hazel asked as she looked down concerned.

“Ask _him_.” Nico snapped before he disappeared into a shadow.

“Piper, can we summon water out of the cornucopia?” Annabeth said urgently.

“I think so, but I’ve never tried.”

“I’m sure we can, come with me so we can help put out the fire.” Annabeth said quickly as she swung herself over the edge and started climbing down.

Piper nodded and followed.

After a little while, Frank jumped down into the crow’s nest now that there was room, and put a hand on Leo’s shoulder.

“Leo what happened?” Frank said gently.   

“I-I . . . _Nico pissed me off and I-!”_

“Set the ship on fire?” said Hazel

“He said I didn’t belong on the ship!” Leo spat

“Nico says a lot of things when he’s angry, I’m sure he didn’t mean it.” said Hazel

“Anyway you’re the one always cracking jokes, why did you let it get to you?” said Frank

          Leo sighed, then opened his mouth to speak, but a gust of wind cut him off.

“Leo, come down. We need to speak to you.” Annabeth said sternly as she sat on Black Jack’s back.

She held a hand out to him, and pulled him onto the horse.

“I had a feeling you wouldn’t get along with Nico but this . . .” Annabeth sighed. They landed and she jumped off. “You need to learn some self-control for the sake of the crew Leo.”

          She held a hand out to Leo since his drop was a little bigger, and helped him off the tall horse.

 

“Well you can’t just force two people to get along!” Jason yelled.

“So what’re we supposed to do? Everyone else has to leave at night so we can find that stupid scepter and _someone_ has to guard the ship!” Percy yelled back

“It won’t happen again!”

“And what if we come back and the whole ship’s on fire!?”

“It _won’t.”_ Jason growled

“I-I promise it won’t happen again.” Leo blurted

          Percy whipped around and marched over to him.

 _“How_ did you set your own ship on fire? I thought you could control that fire thing!”

“Nico pissed me off a-and I kinda lost control of it . . .” said Leo

 _“Of course.”_ Percy hissed. He scanned the deck then marched away a little. “Where the hell is—? _NICO!!”_ Percy screamed.

          After a short pause, Nico suddenly appeared behind them.

“What?” He snapped.

“Why are you starting fights with Leo!? You’re supposed to be guarding ship not destroying it!”

“Well I wouldn’t get angry if he wasn’t such a _freaking idiot!_ His dumbass fell off the damn ship and when I started yelling at him he caught on fire!” Nico yelled.

“If Leo fell off the ship then how is he still here?” Annabeth said calmly stepping forward.

“I shadow traveled to pull him back before he hit the water.” Nico breathed.

“You can do that in midair? _Since when?”_ Percy snapped

“Believe it or not a giant ship in the air casts a giant shadow! Anyway at night our half of the world is basically in one huge shadow so I can do it pretty much anywhere, _but the point is_ Leo is an irresponsible idiot and I’m not watching the ship with him again!” Nico snapped

“Well you just have to.” Percy said firmly

“Don’t care!” Nico yelled throwing his hands up.

“Why are you being so annoying about this!?” Percy shouted.

Nico scowled and started walking off.

“Nico!” Percy yelled as he marched over and yanked Nico back by the shoulder.

          Nico hissed and spun around, drawing his sword in one swift moment and holding the point to Percy’s chin.

 _“Don’t. Touch. Me.”_ Nico said in a grave tone.

          Percy scowled and whipped Riptide out, but when he stepped forward to slash, a golden blade blocked.

 _“Back off.”_ Jason growled.

          Thunder crashed overhead as the clouds started to gather and block out the moon.

“If he’d stop acting like a stuck up jerk then maybe I would!” Percy yelled in a growl, shoving Jason back.

“And why can’t you just keep things simple for once!?” Jason snapped as he turned to Nico

“If everyone wasn’t such an idiot I wouldn’t have too!” Nico yelled back.

“You’re the idiot!” Percy yelled as he slashed at Nico.

          Nico held his sword up in a defense, but Percy’s blows were heavy. With each sharp _clang_ Nico’s arms quaked as he was backed him up against the fallen mast. Lighting flashed as torrent of rain started pouring down from above, and the sea below spiraled into a hurricane with tsunami like waves rocking the ship from side to side. Nico had his back against the charred wood, and Percy’s eyes were dark as he raised his sword, but when he stepped forward in a jab his right leg fell into a large fissure in the deck that glowed an eerie, bright green.

Thanks to his reflexes, Percy managed to grab onto a plank of wood before he fell into who knows what and pull himself back onto the deck. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much room to walk as he was surrounded by more cracks in the ground, each emitting a terrible sensation he couldn’t quite grasp that dulled his senses, but reminded him of the feeling he got when Nico had dipped him into the River Styx; like all the life was being sucked out of him. When Percy finally stood, Nico was to his right, and Jason was a little to the left, but neither of them looked like they were working together. In fact they looked just as eager to impale the other as they were to Percy, making a perfect triangle of three angry demigods ready to bring the whole ship down in their fight.

“W-What’s going on? I’ve never seen any of them like this.” Hazel gasped. 

“Children of the big three are more powerful than the rest of us, and because of their dad’s they naturally react to each other’s emotions more than demigods of different heritage.” Said Annabeth

“Like when Percy and Jason started fighting back in Kansas?” said Piper

“Exactly, expect it’s even worse this time because when it’s just Jason and Percy they cancel each other out. But since Nico’s here, all of them are getting stronger and loosening control.” Annabeth said gravely.

“How are we going to stop them? They’re going to sink the ship at this rate!” Frank said as water started flooding the deck.

          It was up to their calves now, and only rising faster with the rain pouring down and the sea splashing in.

          Lightning flashed a near blinding light as the clanging of swords from the three echoed in the air. It was getting harder to see, and the light of the moon was long gone. Annabeth’s eyes stormed as she thought, but as the boy’s yelling got louder her stony expression fell into fear.

“I-I don’t think we can.” She choked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh this chapter was so VIOLENT  
> i love it
> 
> also, i'm chokeing and dyeing on Leo's sad feelings
> 
> Also also, someone please write an all out fight between big three babies, 
> 
> Where Hazel and thaila step in and own them all becasue for some reason everyone forgets their just as powerful???  
> ??????????????????????????????????????????  
> ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????//  
> people look at Jason/Nico/Percy like  
> OH BIG 3 BABIES WATCH OUT THEIR SO STRONG  
> but hazel is just like ahh yes my sweet husbando frank  
> and Thaila just fucked off to join a lesbian gang with Artamis  
> i need big three ladies fml  
> When i dont have 5 ongoing fics i'll write it ugh


	3. Clearing mist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> talk shit get hit

“Well we might not be able to stop them-” Piper growled as she stepped forward in the boy’s direction.

“Piper hang back it’s dangerous!” Annabeth yelled.

“But we might as well ask them to _CALM DOWN.”_ She screamed, her voice ringing out clear and true, piercing through the static noise of the rain and storm.

          The sound of clashing metal stopped, and the rain slowly started to die as the sea calmed. Silent lighting flashed one last time as clouds parted and the moon shone down a sterile white light.

          Piper marched forward as the fissures in the before her feet started to close, leaving nothing but a faint green glow on deck.

“Drop your swords.” She hissed.

All three swords clattered to the ground.

Piper stood in front of them, looking down in an irritated glare. Cold rain water ran down her cheek and dripped to the ground. Her jaw was tense, but then a coy smile curled into the corner of her lips.

“Now bow.” She snapped.

          All three boys dropped to their knees and looked to her feet. Piper burst out laughing as a warm atmosphere eased back into the air.

“Children of the big three my ass.” Piper scoffed.

“Piper! That’s not fair!” Jason huffed.

“What was that for!?” Percy snapped as he got up.

“What the hell were you doing!? You three almost sunk the ship!” She yelled. 

“Well maybe if-” Nico started

“Shut up! All of you!” Piper spat raising her hand as she shook her head.

          The boys all closed their mouths and stared.

“Now we have a job to do, but since _some people_ can’t get along with others—”

          Piper threw a glare to Leo, and then to Nico.

“— _I_ will stay on the Argo tomorrow night and make sure the ship doesn’t burn. But I’m only going to stay for _one_ night. After that, you two will get along just fine. _Whether you want to or not.”_ Piper said darkly.

          With that she spun around and marched to the quarter deck.

“AND CLEAR ALL THIS WATER OFF THE DECK. _NOW!”_ She yelled as she disappeared below.

          A dark blue aura surrounded Nico as cracks in the deck opened up, draining the water away as Percy willed it to run up the sides of the ship and fall back into the sea. In less than a minute, the deck was bone dry, and all three boys looked exhausted.

 _“I’m going to bed.”_ Nico grumbled as he snatched his jacket off the deck and disappeared.

          Percy rolled his eyes and marched off below deck to the mess hall, and Jason sighed as he sat down and leaned back against the mast.  

“I think everyone should go get some rest.” Annabeth said loudly as she walked away.

          Hazel and Frank shuffled uncomfortably for a minute, then with a collective sigh they started walking.

“Leo come here. I wanna’ talk to you real quick.” Jason said in a very final tone.

          Leo flinched and turned to his side, where Annabeth was glaring at him, mouthing-

_Go._

          Leo rubbed the back of his neck and walked over to Jason.

“Y-Yeah?”

“Sit down.” Jason sighed as he stared at the sky.

          Leo sat down and started taping _I love you_ in mores code without realizing it.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen. None of this was, and it wouldn’t if you hadn’t started fighting with Nico.” Jason said sternly.

          Leo tapped faster. 

“Which is why I _really_ need you to get along with him.” Jason said gently as he turned to his friend.

          Leo let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, and his shaking hand fell still.

“I’m telling you, Nico’s a good guy it’s just . . . he’s _really_ difficult sometimes.” Jason grumbled.

“Like I don’t know that.” Leo spat.

“He saved your life tonight, didn’t he?” Jason said sternly.

          Leo shut his mouth and thought.

          Nico did save his life. _Twice_ actually.

“Look I’m not asking you to be his best friend, but tomorrow can you try to be nice? At least thank him for saving you.” Jason sighed.

          Leo glared at the ground as Nico’s harsh words echoed in his mind.

“Leo please.” Said Jason.

 _“Fine._ Piper will be there anyway so it shouldn’t be too bad.” Leo mumbled

“Thanks man.” Jason said, gently clapping Leo on the shoulder as he got up and walked below deck.

          Leo sighed again and stared up at the sky. The moon was disappearing behind the horizon, and the next time he’d see it he would be stuck on the ship alone with Nico again. Well Piper would be there, but _still_. He rolled his eyes and got up. He moved for the masthead to talk his issues out with Festus, but deiced against it and marched down to the engine room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why coudln't roardin write piper like this
> 
> why
> 
> if i wrote piper she'd get zero hate because 80% of her character wouldn't be based off her love for Jason in the lost hero 
> 
> piper don't take shit from no big 3 babies. 
> 
> their just babies.  
> //my babies//


	4. Sing me to sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shaking my head at Nico

“Leo! Wake up!” Piper’s voice yelled

          There was banging on the engine room’s front door, but Leo was so warm and sleepy he started falling back asleep, until-

“LEO VALDEZ OPEN THIS DOOR.”

          Leo jumped up and rushed to the door like his life depended on it. After he swung it open, he almost fell over on the ground in sleep.

“What’s happing?” Leo yawned.

“Everyone’s leaving to go look for the scepter and I’ve been up all day on watch while they were sleeping. I’m going to get some sleep, and _I swear to gods_ if you start something-”

“I won’t I promise!”  

 _“Be nice to Nico Di Angelo.”_ Piper said in a dark tone.

          Leo felt a cold body shiver over him, and with that Piper turned around and marched to the second level of the deck to her room. With a sigh, Leo walked above deck.

The moon was out again, and the air was warm. Bufford the table had already set to work on rebuilding the mast, and the ship was floating on the water so everything slowly rocked back and forth in gentle waves.

He scanned the deck for Nico, but he was nowhere in sight.

 _“He didn’t really ditch the ship . . . Did he?”_ Leo thought.

          Leo hurried down to one of the rear storage rooms behind the engine room that Nico had converted into a cabin since there were only seven to begin with on the first level, then gently knocked on the door.

“N-Nico?” Leo said quietly as he knocked on the door.

          No answer.

After thinking for a bit, Leo decide to open the door.

“Nico? You need to come on deck and take watch with me.” Leo called.

          The room was dark for the most part, but dimly lit by a golden lamp. An aviator jacket hung on a closet door dripping water into a bucket, and a few maps and books were neatly hung on the wall or stacked in a corner, but besides that, the room was pretty empty save a large mattress without a bedframe, black sheets covering said mattress along with a few pillows, and a white vase filled with the most beautiful flowers he’d ever seen to right and a small tub about two feet long filled with a sparkling water. 

 _“Didn’t think he was the type to keep flowers.”_ Leo thought to himself      

 _“What are you doing in my room_?” Nico snapped from behind.

          Leo whipped around to see him standing in the door way. He was glaring as usual, but his eyes were watering with pain. His left sleeve was cut off and the arm was wrapped in bandages.

“What happened to your arm?” said Leo

 _“You happened_. You’re fire burned the shit out of my arm and now I can hardly feel it.” Nico growled as shoved past Leo and sat on his mattress.

          Nico slowly started unwrapping the arm, hissing in pain as his eyes welled with tears. Soon a small pile of bloody bandage collected on the ground, revealing Nico’s horribly scorched arm. From the shoulder down, it was all red, and wide cavities of skin dipped down to the raw, bleeding flesh, some flashing bits of white bone and charred black chunks of skin

          Leo’s stomached twisted, and bile gathered in the back of his throat as the feeling of oncoming vomit crept into him

“Oh my gods.” Leo squeaked as his voice cracked.

          Nico didn’t hear him as he dipped his hand into the tub of water and cried out in pain. He started grinding his teeth and clawing at the matters with his right hand as his left sat in the water. Nico’s face turned even paler, and his eyes fluttered like he was going to pass out, but when he almost did he grabbed the vase of flowers and dumped it into the tub. His face immediately went slack and he breathed deep, shaky breaths.

“W-What do you want anyway?” Nico groaned as he squeezed his eyes shut.

“Nico I’m so sorry I didn’t-”

“Of course you didn’t mean to, but that’s not going to fix my arm. _Now leave.”_ Nico breathed.

          Leo opened his mouth to speak, but there wasn’t anything he could say to make it better. Sure the guy had choked him, but that was nothing compared to _this_. Nico was hurt _bad_ , and everyone was angry at him for fighting last night.

Speaking of which, how the hell did he fight with that arm? Just looking at it made him want to pass out, but Nico somehow managed to keep a straight face and take on two of the strongest demigods alive. The thought of it sent a shiver down his spine, and confirmed the promise that he’d never try to fight with Nico again.

Leo turned, and gently closed the door behind him, then walked up to the deck as a wind so cold blew through that it made his teeth chatter. He summoned a flame in the palm of his hand to warm up, but the gruesome image of Nico’s arm flashed in his mind and the fire sputtered out.

          Nico had already saved his life twice, and all he’d done to repay him was give him a third degree burn. He wouldn’t be able to look Jason in the eye when he got back, or Hazel for that matter. Both of them were pretty sweet on Nico and if they found out— _Well Leo didn’t want to think about that._    

“I have to do something . . .” Leo muttered.

          But what? Nico had already started the healing process, and at this point there wasn’t much he could do.

          His stomach suddenly grumbled, and the thought food floated into his mind.

 _“He probably hasn’t eaten yet. I’ll just make him something to eat too.”_ Leo thought with a smile.   

          With that he ran into the mess hall, and about half an hour later he walked out with a hot, toasted, twelve inch sub wrapped in butcher’s paper. The smell of melted cheese, warm bread and seared meat made Leo’s mouth drool, but he bit at his lip to stop from eating it himself.

 _“This is for Nico.”_ He repeated to himself aloud as he walked down below deck, past the first level, down to the second level where he knocked on Nico’s door.

          No response.

Leo knocked again, then after pause of silence he opened it a crack and peaked his head inside.

“Nico?” Leo said quietly.

          The golden light was low, and Nico was laying on his back with his left arm lying in the tub, and his shirt over his eyes. His bare chest was steadily rising and falling, and large patches of it were tinted pink with light burns.

          Leo quickly closed the door and wrapped his arms around his stomach.

 _“Should I go in anyway or . . .”_ Leo thought as his ears burned.

          It was a rare sight to catch Nico without his jacket, seeing him like _that_ was outright embarrassing. Then again, they were both guys and it’s not like Leo hadn’t seen a guy’s chest before. If it was Piper or Hazel, that’d be different because they actually have a chest, but it wasn’t Piper or Hazel. Leo took in a deep breath and opened the door. 

“N-Nico?” Leo said weakly.

          The boy shifted in his bed and let out a heavy sigh.

“What?” Nico breathed in a tired voice.

“Are you hungry?”

          Nico suddenly sat up and propped himself up with his right to get better look at Leo. He eyed him with a curious, interested expression.

“Why?” said Nico

“Well I made something so I was wondering if-”

“Bring it here. I’m starving.” Nico blurted

He slowly sat up, wincing in pain as he brought the small tub to his lap and rested his arm inside. Leo closed the door behind him and sat down on the mattress to Nico’s right. He unwrapped the sandwich, and held half of it up to Nico.

          Nico blinked at Leo with an unimpressed stare.

“Leo I can’t hold that with one hand.” Nico said flatly.

“Oh shit I didn’t think about that . . . Here, I’ll just hold it up for you while you take bites.” Leo offered.

          Nico fidgeted with his chain belt and turned away.

“That’s gay.” He said shortly.

          Leo flushed and breathed hot air through his nostrils.

“Well _excuse me_. And after I went to all this trouble to set up a romantic dinner.” Leo scoffed.

          Nico’s ears got a pink tinge as he huffed.

“Just rip it into pieces alright?” he snapped.

 _“Whatever you say dear.”_ Leo joked.

          Nico looked up at the ceiling and breathed, like he was trying to repressed anger as Leo tore the sandwich into pieces that could be picked up with one hand.

“There.” Leo said happily as he peeled a piece of hot cheese off his finger and popped it into his mouth.

          Nico picked up the smallest piece and hesitated before it put it in his mouth. He chewed, swallowed, and then got a thoughtful look.

“It’s good.” Nico said quietly.

“Thank you! Now if you could drop the whole _I hate the world and everyone in it_ attitude, then maybe we could be friends.” Leo chirped.

“Don’t push it.” Nico said shortly as he ate another piece of the sandwich, but he had the faintest hint of a smile in the corner of his lips, and his eyes were in a gentle gaze as he stared at the wall.

          Leo smiled to himself pulled small wrench out of his tool belt and twirled it on his finger. He looked around the room, and took a better look. There was actually more here than he thought. Short, neat piles of folded clothes lined the dark walls, but since the clothes were all black no wonder he’d missed it. Nico’s sword was propped up in the corner. An old, worn green hat sat on top of a stack of books, and miscellaneous spoils of battle and travel were situated around in a minimalist way. His eyes finally fell back on Nico, more precisely his arm, and the smile on his face faded. He started tapping _I love you_ on his leg as his eyes went over every crevice of the ruined flesh.

“It’s not your fault.” Nico sighed.

“Yes it is.” Leo said quietly.

“You’re not the kind of person to do something like this on purpose. If you were I’d would’ve dragged you to the underworld in your sleep.” Nico said with a small, amused smile.

          Leo let out a weak laugh, but curled his arms around his chest and tapped _I love you_ on his ribs faster.

“I really am sorry.” Leo said in a voice soft as a whisper.

“What made you mad?” Nico said as he shoved more pieces of sandwich in his mouth.

“What?” said Leo

“A demigod’s power reactions to their emotions. Something had to make you really mad for you to react like that. I mean what I said was mean, but not _that_ mean. Sorry about that by the way.” said Nico   

“Don’t worry about it.” Leo said quietly.

          Nico continued to eat for a while, then finally cleared his throat and turned to Leo.

“So you don’t wanna’ talk about it or-?” Nico started

“Oh right . . . Well I wasn’t mad to begin with . . . just sad.”

“What could a demigod on a treacherous quest possibly be sad about?” Nico scoffed.

          Leo smiled and started tapping with his foot.

 “It’s kinda stupid but . . . Everyone on this ship is dating someone else, well besides you, but you just got here so that doesn’t count. Anyway they’re all paired up, and since seven is an odd number I guess feel like the odd one out.” Leo said quietly as he scratched the back of his neck.

“So you’re lonely.” Nico said shortly as he ate another piece of the sandwich.

“I’m not-!” Leo started, but Nico raised an eyebrow, and Leo sighed as he stared at the ground. “Maybe a little.” Leo squeaked.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. And there’s nothing wrong with being alone.” Nico said thoughtfully as he chewed.

“What do you mean by that?” said Leo

“Well I’ve been traveling on my own since I was twelve so . . . I guess I’m used to it? I don’t know. It’s just natural to me, and I don’t see what’s wrong with being on your own.”

          Leo stared at Nico in surprise. They were probably the same age, but for some reason Nico always gave off this feeling like he was older. Not in the same, seasoned heroic feeling Percy did, but in a more worn down, quite type of way. Like the difference between a recruit going in, and a soldier coming back from war. As if he’d seen the world’s horrors and finally accepted them.

 _“Still_ . . . Even if it’s okay, I always feel bad.” Leo sighed.

“Well not everyone’s cut out for it. I mean look how I turned out.” Nico smiled with a wink.          

          Leo let out a laugh, and his chest felt warm. Maybe this guy isn’t half bad. But at that thought when he looked at Nico’s arm he only felt worse.

“But feeling shitty isn’t an excuse to torch someone.” Leo sighed

“I said it’s okay so stop worrying about it.” Nico grumbled as he set the tub on the ground, but the second he took his arm out of the water he hissed in pain and started to tear up. “H-Hand me that jar and some clean bandages would you?” He choked.

          Leo grabbed a bundle of clean bandages and dark, heavy jar the size of a baseball.

“What is this?” Leo asked.

“Just a salve I got from Persephone a long time ago. I already took too much ambrosia so this is the next best thing to dull the pain.” Nico grunted.

          Leo set the jar down front of Nico, who struggled to open it with one shaking hand.   

“Do you need help?” Leo offered.

          Nico suddenly looked up, like he hadn’t even considered that he could ask.

“Can you?”

“I-I can try. I’m good at fixing things so hopefully people are too different. What should I do?”

“Dip the bandage in the salve and wrap it around my arm, starting from the shoulder down.” Nico breathed as his face flushed from pain.

“Right.” Leo mumbled as he twisted the lid off.

          He unwrapped a few inches of the stretchy bandage, took a handful of the translucent, green salve and coated the bandage entirely. He gingerly pressed it down on Nico’s shoulder, but the boy cried out anyway.

“Are you okay?” Leo panicked

“I-I’m fine . . . Don’t stop.” Nico panted as his wide eyes blinked at nothing.

          Leo nodded and continued wrapping the bandage in a secure, but not too tight spiral down Nico’s arm, slathering more of the salve on the bandage the farther down he got until he was wrapping Nico’s hand like a boxer. Leo snipped the end of it and held it down.

“Now what?” he said

“I wrap another layer over that to keep the salve from drying out and getting all over my bed, so do that.” Nico said as he pointed to anther roll of bandages.

          Leo snatched it off the ground and quickly started wrapping Nico’s arm, this time from the hand up, and when he finally got to Nico’s shoulder, the boy was staring at him with a soft, glazed expression.   

“What is it?” Leo said with a nervous smile.

“Huh?” Nico said blinking back to his senses. “Oh I guess it’s just weird watching someone take care of me. I usually do this stuff myself.” Nico mumbled.

          Leo broke his gaze and stared down as he pinned the bandage down.

“Well you shouldn’t have to. If you ever need some patching up I’ll do it for you.” Leo smiled.

“No it’s fine-”  

“It’s not fine!” Leo snapped.

          Nico flinched, taken aback as he stared. 

“I-I mean . . . You saved my life twice last night and I turned your arm into a well done steak. At least let me do something to make it up to you.” Leo said quietly

          Nico let out a deep breath and his dark eyes flicked around the ceiling as he thought.

“Fine. I have to change this bandage everyday for it to heal as soon as possible, so you can do that for me.” Nico said firmly.

“Perfect.” Leo grinned.

          Nico smiled back, but the two of them soon realized how close they were so Leo scooted back and let go of Nico’s arm. 

“I-Is there anything else you need?” Leo asked.

          Nico sighed and got up. He readjusted the chain belt on his waist, pulled his Tshirt back on, then took a black shawl out of the closet and pulled it over his shoulders as he glared at his soaking wet jacekt.

“I kinda wanted to take a nap, but we have to go on watch. Piper’s been up all day and it’s not safe if we’re all below deck.” Nico said as he took his sword and leaned on it like a walking stick.

“Oh you can go to sleep, I’ll just take watch for the night.” Leo offered.

          Nico bit at his lip and shook his head in thought.

“No . . . that won’t work. There has to be two of us out there, and after last night if everyone come back to find me slacking off-”

“But you’re not slacking off! You’re arm-” Leo started

“Doesn’t matter.” Nico said shortly as he walked out.

          Leo balled his fists up and could feel his skin tingle with hot steam. But instead of arguing, he just followed Nico above deck.  

      The moon was hidden away behind fluffy, large white clouds so a dull, grey light filtered down. Nico was standing in the middle of the deck staring up at the half built mast, and his black shawl swayed in the gentle wind like a ghost, and from this angle, if Leo didn’t know any better he would’ve thought Nico a spirit himself.

“That was my favorite spot.” Nico grumbled

“Sorry.” Leo said quietly.

          Nico sighed and put an arm around Leo’s shoulder.

“Wha-” Leo started, but next thing he knew he felt ice cold, save his shoulder that was warm in Nico’s arm as everything went dark.

          When he could see again, the two of them were standing in the crow’s nest of the foremast, far up above the rest of the ship, but not as high as they would’ve been on the mainmast. But it was nice here. From this spot you could actually see the rest of the ship, and the ocean below. You still felt a part of the world, close enough to observe, but far enough to feel safe, unlike the main mast that was so up high it was like you were in a different world altogether.  

          Nico slipped his arm away, walked to the edge and leaned on over the side with his right arm as his left was tucked away under the shawl. With a quite sigh, he got a faraway look and stared up at the moon. The silver light reflected in his dark eyes, and he was perfectly still to the point where his back barely puffing up and down in steady breath was the only indicator he was alive.

          Leo suddenly felt his chest go warm again as he wrapped his arms around it. He idly tapped _I love you_ with his heel and looked the other way.

          Why did Nico look so different like this than he did during the day? Right now he looked so calm and approachable, but when everyone else was around his face was always stuck in a bitter glare. And why was he acting so nice to the person who literally scorched his arm beyond use? The guy acted like he already knew what Leo was going through, so why didn’t he ever speak up before?

          Leo tapped with his foot faster and started drumming on his ribs as he tried to shove down the queasy, but sickly sweet feeling bubbling in his chest.

“Are you cold?” Nico said in a voice so soft Leo could’ve mistaken it for the wind.

“Kinda. It’s a little windy.” Leo mumbled as he shivered.

          Nico slowly raised his left arm with the shawl and cocked his head. Leo blinked at him for a second, and then quick tingle went down his spine as he realized Nico was inviting him under.       

          Leo stepped over and gingerly took the end of the long shawl from Nico’s damaged hand. Their finger’s grazed each other’s for only a second, but the small wince of pain in Nico’s eyes was clear. Leo wrapped the shawl over his side and shuffled a little closer so he wouldn’t be hogging the fabric for himself. Nico leaned back on the edge and breathed, not bothering to make conversation.

If it were anyone else the quite would’ve felt awkward, but with Nico, it felt natural. He didn’t really speak so often with his words, and everything important he said with his eyes. Like right now. They were distant, and half closed with long eyelashes.

Content.

A comfortable silence.

Simple warmth between two bodies was enough, there was no need for idle talk.

          Leo finally turned to him, and when Nico meet his gaze with a cheerful smile he felt his heart skip a beat.

          Nico’s eyes went wide as he straighten up and moved his right hand to Leo’s face. Leo shrunk back a little, but didn’t move, feeling his heart beat faster as Nico’s hand got closer and tugged at a piece of his hair.

“A little bit of your hair caught on fire.” Nico said with an amused tone as he turned back. “Is something still bothering you?”

          Leo stared at Nico with a soft expression as his chest felt tight. He pulled the shawl closer and breathed, but the now familiar smell only made his discomfort worse. Nonetheless, he breathed the scent in and wrapped it over his nose so only his dark brown eyes a tuft of curly hair peaked out. Because of this, the fabric between the two shortened, so they were side to side and Leo could feel the ridges of Nico’s bandaged arm gently press against his skin.   

“I-I don’t know. . .” Leo mumbled.

“Well there’s no rush. Figure out what you feel on your own time.” Nico said without breaking his gaze on the moon.

 _“What do I feel?”_ Leo thought as he felt his eyelids start to droop.

          Sometime later, Leo opened his eyes and the sunrise was bright on the horizon. He heard laughter and the clomping of a pegasus’s hooves down below, but when he turned Nico was gone, even though the black shawl was still wrapped around his shoulders and tied with a loose knot so it wouldn’t fall off.  

“So how did everything go last night?” A voice said besides him

          Leo jumped back and turned to find Jason, sitting on the side of the crow’s nest with his legs dangling over the edge.  

“Woah I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“N-No it’s fine. Where’s Nico?” said Leo

“I just saw him walking below deck. Why? Did you guys fight again?” Jason said as his face fell in worry.

“No. . . I was just wondering where he went.” Leo said quietly as he looked over.

“Are you okay? You seem a little . . . quite.” said Jason.

“I’m fine. I just got some stuff to figure out.” Said Leo

“Well maybe you could figure it out with Nico. That might help you two get along better.” Jason offered.

          Leo pulled the shawl around himself a little tighter and breathed in the lingering smell.

“Maybe.” Leo said with small smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *rolling around on the ground as i scream inchoerhetnly*
> 
> Please comment / leave kudos. I work really hard to write this, and feed back helps me know i'm doing something right.   
> thank you and thanks for reading!!


	5. Something burns deep in the heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper is on2 u bruh  
> can't hide frm da daughtre of Aphrodite

As much as the prophecy of seven scared him, Leo was actually glad he didn’t think to build extra cabins on the top floor, because since Nico spent most of his time in his room during the day –which was _way_ back behind the engine room on the second level— he felt like he had some privacy when he would visit Nico every now and then during the day.

          Leo knocked once on the door and peak his head in.

“Rise and shine Nico! Time for breakfast.”  He chirped

          Nico grumbled and turned over in bed.

“Not hungry.” He said shortly.

          Leo puffed his cheeks and glared, but gently closed the door and hurried upstairs to the mess hall.

“Moring.” Jason yawned as he sat down next to Percy, who asleep with one hand in his blue cereal.   

“Why’s everyone so tired?” Leo whispered to Piper as he sat down with plate of eggs and a piece of toast.

“They all got like two hours of sleep. We have to search at night and take watch shifts during the day and wake back up for meals so we don’t burn out. Everyone’s just exhausted.” Piper said as she took a bite of a vegetarian breakfast burrito. 

“Why don’t I and Nico take day watches?” said Leo

“Because you two are _alone_ at night. Plus monsters aren’t nearly as active during the day as they are at night. Eight sleepy demigods can make it during the day, but two can’t at night.” Said Piper

“That makes sense I guess. . .” Leo muttered as it munched on his toast.

“Speaking of which, how’re you and Nico getting along? I was supposed to watch you guys last night but . . . I kinda just slept the whole time.”    

“Oh. We’re getting along fine I-I guess. . . He’s alright.” Leo said as he started tapping with his heel.

          Piper stared at him in a curious squint, and the longer she did the more restless Leo felt.

“What’re ya’ look’n at?” Leo snapped as shoved a full piece of toast in his mouth.

“I don’t know . . . I just got a weird feeling where you started talking about Nico . . .” Piper said as she stared.

          Leo felt the hairs on his neck stand on end as he watched her green-blue-brown eyes sparkle and slowly work to a conclusion he didn’t want to hear.

“Well maybe you should get some sleep! You have a long night ahead of you and sleep deprivation can do crazy stuff to a person. It’s probably just in your head.” Leo said quickly as he shoved more food in his mouth and tapped his heel so fast his whole leg shook.

          “Maybe. . .” Piper said slowly as she turned back to her food. She took another bite and chewed for a moment. “Hey Leo . . . do you like— _Leo?”_ Piper said as he turned around.

          The last thing she saw was Leo sprinting out of the mess hall with a bottle of orange juice and a breakfast burrito wrapped in warm foil. 

“. . . Guess he’s just really hungry.” Piper said thoughtfully, but there was a lingering suspicion in her gaze that wasn’t convinced. With a huff she took a bite out of her burrito and kicked Percy under the table to wake him up.

“DIE!” Percy yelled as he slammed fist into his cereal, causing it to spill over Annabeth and Frank who were sleeping on the table to his left.  “W-What’s happing?” Percy stuttered as he rubbed his eyes awake.

          Piper rolled her eyes and flicked a fruit loop off her shoulder.

\--

          Leo shielded his eyes with the bottle of orange juice as the bright sun beat down. It’d been two days since he’d actually seen daylight with their shift cycle, and it was pretty refreshing to feel the warmth of it on his skin again.

          The deck was empty, except for Bufford who was steadily working his way up on rebuilding the mainmast, and Hazel who was leaning over the edge of the boat.

  
“Oh man she’s probably seasick again.” Leo mumbled as he jogged over.

“Hazel are you-” Leo started, but she held a hand up and jumped a little to reach over the rail and hurled over the side of the ship.

 _“My ship . . .”_ Leo thought with a cringe. _“Better than having her puke all over the deck though.”_

“Sorry Leo. . . Since we can’t fly the ship without fixing the mast I’ve been—”

          Hazel stopped talking and turned to her left as she pressed a hand to her mouth. Her cheeks puffed for a second, and then she started breathing deep breaths as she focused on the deck. 

“Y-You know.” She breathed.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Leo said weakly

“Besides fixing the mast? Not really.” Hazel laughed. “Anyway how are you getting along with my brother? Nico’s been coming out of his room even less than usual . . .” Hazel mumbled with a worried look.

 _“That’s because I torched his arm and moving makes him look like he’s gonna pass out. Don’t worry though! He’s fine!”_ Leo thought as his throat went tight.

“We get along okay. . . I’m sure he’s just grumpy from having to sleep all day and stay awake all night.” Leo said quickly

“Really? You get along now?” Hazel said eagerly.

“Yeah! After a while we might even become friends.” Leo chimed.

“That’s great! You don’t know how much that means to me.” Hazel said as she threw her arms around Leo.

“Why?” Leo laughed.

“Well Nico doesn’t really open up to people, and I was hoping he’d start making friends when we brought him on board . . . but he hasn’t. But since you’re really friendly I thought you’d become friends with him the fastest and then he’d open up to everyone else. So when we had to break up groups for guarding the ship and finding the scepter, I kinda asked Jason if you could watch the ship with him.” Hazel finished in a mumbled as she shuffled her feet.     

“I thought you guys just wanted to leave me on the ship.” Said Leo

“What? No! Annabeth wouldn’t stop complaining because she wanted your help with all of the temple puzzles, and Jason wanted to fight with you so he could teach you swordplay.”

“Really?” Leo said quietly.

“Of course. What did you think? That we were all going on some kind of triple date mission?” Hazel laughed.

“. . . Kinda . . . Yeah, actually I did.”  Leo mumbled as he turned away and scratched at his neck.

“Oh Leo! We wouldn’t just leave you behind like that. You’re watching the ship with Nico because I _asked_. The better relations we have with eachother, the stronger we’ll be against Gaia. And I don’t want Nico to be cut off from everyone . . . It’s kinda selfish but-”

“No, I understand. You just don’t want him to be alone.”

“Exactly! How did you know?” said Hazel.

          Leo bit on his lip and started tapping with his heel.

“Uh . . . lucky guess?” Leo said as he started backing away. “Anyway I’ll get that mainmast fixed ASAP! Promise!” Leo yelled over his shoulder with a grin.

          Leo ran below deck, and sprinted to the second level, where he screeched to a halt in the narrow halls outside the long engine room that took up the bulk of the second floor, and tiptoed over to Nico’s room.

 _“Nico?”_ Leo whispered as he cracked the door open.

           Nico was asleep on the mattress, turned on his side under a throw blanket. Leo closed the door behind him, and the room turned pitch dark, but as if reacting to his discomfort the lamp flickered on. 

          Leo crept around to Nico’s right and crouched down. The boy was fast asleep, drooling a little out the corner of his mouth as his breath blew a long piece of dark hair back and forth around his face. Leo smiled and poked him in the check. Nico mumbled before turning on his back and shoving blanket down to his waist so his bare chest was visible and his hipbones peaked out above his boxers.

 _“U-Uhh. . .”_ Leo thought as he felt his chest go warm.

          He shouldn’t have cared that Nico slept in his boxers like every other guy he knew. But he _did._ And he couldn’t help but notice that despite his small frame, Nico’s pale skin was taut with lean muscle, especially around his arms and back while his stomach grazed with barely there abs. Without realizing it, Leo found himself reaching for the blanket to pull it down further, but stopped short and slapped himself in the face.

 _“What am I doing!?”_ He thought.

          Nico mumbled and flipped in sleep again, but this time rolled over on his bad arm and cried out in pain. With a groan he rolled back to his right and laid his left arm out like before. Even though he was asleep, his eyes were squeezed tight, and his breathing was labored.

          Leo felt his heart drop.

          Nico was still in pain, and it was _his_ fault.  

          His burned hand started closing into a fist and flattening back out over and over as the boy groaned until he shifted in his sleep and his hand and fell off the mattress entirely, hitting the hardwood floor with a thud. Nico hissed, then turned his head as sweat started to bead on his forehead before returning to shakey breaths.

          Leo’s chest burned, but in a different, painful kind of way as he watched Nico suffer. With nothing else to do, he gently picked Nico’s hand up and set it back on the mattress, but when he tried to pull away Nico’s fingers laced in with Leo’s and held his hand in a soft grip. His breathing steadied as he rubbed his thumb against the back of Leo’s hand. Then after a long while, his grip went slack and his body relaxed back into peaceful sleep. 

          Leo swallowed hard as he let his hand rest on Nico’s, gently tapping in mores code on his fingers.  Finally, he pulled away, setting the burrito and juice down by Nico’s side, and tiptoed out of the room.

          He marched into the engine room, grabbed the shawl off the work bench then walked upstairs onto the deck. Annabeth and Jason were half asleep on portside and starboard but they didn’t notice as he marched to the foremast and tied the shawl around his shoulders like Nico had last night. After climbing up the mast for a while, he was finally in the crow’s nest. Leo curled up in a ball and covered himself whole with the shawl as he tapped on the wood in irritation.

_There’s no rush. Figure out how you feel on your own time._

          Nico’s words echoed in his head, and when he thought of that rare, sweet smile his face flushed and his nose caught on fire. Leo scrambled up to put the fire out before it caught on the shawl, and next thing he knew he was tangled in it, staring up at the clear blue sky blushing beet red.

“Gods dammit . . . feeling left out was better than this.” Leo grumbled as he pulled the shawl over himself like blanket, and fell asleep.

—

“Nico! Wake up! It’s time for you to take watch!” Hazel’s voice yelled through his door.

          Nico’s eyes fluttered open, and after more knocking he finally yelled back.

“I’m up, I’m up!”

“Alright!” she called.

          And with that her footsteps faded away.

Nico groaned and reached to turn on the lamp, but for some reason it was already on.

 _“What?”_ Nico thought.

          He slowly sat up, gingerly moving his arm along with the rest of his body when he turned to his right and saw something shiny on the floor. He scooted over, and twisted around so he could pick it up with his left. Nico held it down between his knees, and picked at the foil with his right hand until it was half way unwrapped.

 _“How’d this get in here?”_ Nico thought as he smelled it, then after realizing it was food, took a small bite.

          It was filled with cold egg, cheese and sausage, but tasted alright since the core of it retained a little warmth.

“Why the hell is a breakfast burrito in my room?” Nico mumbled as he continued to eat.

          After finishing it off, some of it had a hard time going down his dry throat. He swung his legs to stand up and get a drink of water, but his foot knocked something over. Nico scowled at the noise and crawled over on his knees. In the corner of his room he picked up a plastic bottle that showed to be orange juice when he held it to the light. He pulled the cap off with his teeth and drained half of it.

          Nico licked his dry lips and thought.

_“Hazel never opens my door without permission . . .Who else would-”_

          Nico immediately stopped thinking and shook his head with a small smile. He should be angry that Leo was barging into his room and a little creeped out that he was doing it while he was sleeping, but for some reason Nico didn’t mind at all. It was kinda nice to have someone pay attention to him though he’d never admit it. And Leo was actually pretty funny . . . if not a little cute, in an idiotic kind of way.

          Nico smiled to himself as he gently rubbed a hand over his scorched arm, but after a while his face fell back to the cold, stony expression it was always in.

“Half of what comes out of his mouth is how much he wants a girlfriend . . .” Nico muttered as he awkwardly pulled on a shirt with one arm, then wigged into his pants.

 _“No point_. . .” Nico breathed, squeezing his eyes shut as his arm stung.

          The salve’s effect was wearing off, and it needed to be changed. Nico stuck his last few bundles of bandage in his pocket, hooked his sword onto his belt, and then balanced the jar in his arm as he worked to open the door.

          He walked to the second level and kicked on Leo’s door.

“Wake up!” Nico shouted as he put the jar down and opened up the door.

          After a quick scan of the room, Nico closed it and started searching the rest of the ship for him. Which, thanks to his shadow traveling didn’t take long, although he was a bit surprised to find Leo curled up in his shawl in the crow’s nest, like he hadn’t moved all day.

Nico sat down cross legged next to him, set the jar down and rested his right arm on his thigh. Leo was still sleeping, and only his closed eyes and his mess of unruly hair peaked out from the shawl, so the fabric puffed up and down in rhythm with his breath. He reached out twirled one of Leo’s curls on his finger, smiling as his cheeks tinged pink without him knowing.

 _“He is cute. . .”_ Nico thought to himself.

          But after a little while Leo started to move, and before Nico could pull his hand away the boy’s eyes started to open, so as a last resort he flicked Leo in the forehead.

“Ow. . .” Leo grumbled.

“Wake up.” Nico said shortly as he turned away.

          Leo yawned and sat up, rubbing his eyes as Nico started peeling off his bandages.

“Do you still wanna’ help me with my arm?” Nico said casually.

          Leo blinked his eyes open and nodded sleepily as he scooted over and took over. Even though his face looked he’d be nonfunctional, his hands moved fast with precision as he unwrapped both layers of bandage in no time. Leo pushed them aside and pulled one of his legs in to move closer and reach Nico’s shoulder.

“Lift your arm up.” Leo mumbled as he coated the first half of the bandage in the salve.

          Nico obliged, and Leo started wrapping, and soon Nico’s arm was covered in the first layer.

“How does it feel today?” Leo said quietly.

          Nico’s eyes finally moved from Leo’s quick hands to the boy’s tired eyes. They were a dark, earthy brown and the corners around them hand faint laugh lines around them, along with loose curls that hung down in his bedhead.   

“Better.” Nico sighed.

“That’s good.” Leo smiled.

          He wrapped the final piece of the bandage up to Nico’s shoulder, and when he started to pin it Nico put his right and over Leo’s.

“Don’t pin it there, it cut through the bandage last night.” Nico mumbled as he moved Leo’s hand to lower to the left. “Here.” 

          Leo bit at his lip and nodded, trying not to frown when Nico took his hand away. 

“There.” Leo said

          He looked up and meet Nico’s gaze, and for a long moment neither of them looked away as pink started to creep into their cheeks.

“Thanks.” Nico said finally.

“Any time.” Leo chimed as he scooted back, but not too far away.

          A comfortable, but somehow embarrassing silence fell between them as both were painfully aware of the other. Sitting so close, yet so far.

“Do you think we’ll actually see a single monster on our watch?” Leo laughed

“I hope not. At least until my arm heals up all the way.” Nico sighed.

“Oh . . . right.” Leo mumbled as he wrapped his arms around his knees tucked his chin behind them.

          Nico slapped a hand to his face and pulled down on the skin, rolling his eyes as he regretted his words.

“I-It’s fine. I mean I can still fight if I have to, I’d just rather not is all since it hurts when I move it around too much.” Nico said quickly

“It hurts? H-How bad?” Leo whimpered.

          Nico blinked and mentally kicked himself.

“It doesn’t hurt.” Nico said shortly 

“But you just said—”

“I lied.” Nico cut in.

“What?” said Leo

“What?” Nico responded with a blank look.

          Leo stared in a confused expression that turned into a smile as he burst out laughing.

“Whatever you say man.” Leo sighed as he wrapped himself in the shawl. “Oh do you want this back?” he said lifting it up.

“It’s fine, you can keep it.” Nico said shortly.

“Oh . . . okay.” Leo mumbled as he curled back into a ball with a dejected look. 

“B-but it’s kinda cold today so share when we’re outside.” Nico said quickly.

          Leo’s face lit up as scooted close to Nico and pulled the shawl around his shoulder.

          To be honest, it was actually a little humid out, and sitting under that soft, cotton shawl only made them sweat, but both of the boys seemed to pretend that wasn’t the case. And even though the silence between them was comfortable, Leo soon grew restless and decide to strike up a conversation.

“So where did you travel?” He said casually.

“Huh?” said Nico

“Last night you said you’ve been traveling on your own since you were twelve. Where did you go?” Leo chirped.

“Oh. Just around the U.S really. And most of it was underground when I was that young.”

“What? Is there some kind of secret demigod tunnel system under the country?” Leo laughed.

“No, After I ditched camp half-blood I found an entrance to the Labyrinth and started learning how to control my powers with the Ghost King Minos. After that I spent a lot of time in the underworld with my dad and then I got involved with the whole stopping Kronos from toppling Olympus thing.” Nico sighed.

“You make saving Olympus sound like some kind of boring chore.” Leo laughed.

“It _was_. Everyone thought I was the one leaking information to the other side, and the gods were blaming my dad for not helping out even though _they’re_ ones who banished him from Olympus.” Nico hissed as he stared at the sky. “But when it looked like everything was gonna fall apart Percy took a dip in the River Styx, basically became invincible, beat Kronos blah blah the end.”

“Well at least everything turned out alright.” Leo offered.

“No, everything did _not_ turn out alright. That asshole got my sister killed, but no one remembers that.” Nico growled.

“But I thought Hazel-”

“Not Hazel, my _actual sister._ ” Nico grumbled.

          After a short pause, Nico realized what he’d said and quickly started talking again.

“I mean Hazel’s my sister too but . . . we’re only related by our godly parent. Bianca and I had the same mom, and I grew up with her and I loved her, and then one day Percy showed up and just took her away on some _quest_ . . . a-and then I never saw my sister again.” Nico whispered as his throat went dry.

          Leo started tapping on his knees as he processed the information.

No wonder Nico hated Percy. No wonder he hated _everyone._ If he had gone through all that, he wouldn’t give anyone else a chance either, but then again . . . here he was expecting one.

“I’m so sorry. I never knew.”

          Nico shrugged his good shoulder and pulled one knee in, then rested his arm and chin on it.

“Nothing you can do about the past.” Nico sighed.

          Leo tapped faster as he felt his pulse shoot up like ticking stop watch.

“But you’re still in control of your future . . . There are things you can do to make your life better from here on out.” Leo said, stealing a glace before turning back away.

“Like what?” Nico scoffed.

“W-Well you could start making friends . . . _We_ could be friends. . .” Leo mumbled as he looked down at his chest and covered his face with arms.

          Leo could feel his heart beating so fast and loud he was sure Nico could hear it, but all the boy did was flick him in the head with a small laugh. When Leo turned, Nico was flashing him that same, sweet smile that had started this sickly sweet feeling in his chest. Leo’s lips turned up into a grin as he peaked out from his arms.

          “I’d like that.” Nico said softly.

          Leo’s heart fluttered as he sighed in relief. He scooted just a tiny bit closer so their arms and legs touched, but Nico didn’t seem to notice, or just didn’t seem to mind. The moon was behind large, dark clouds so it’s light was shining across the deck in an unearthly silver filter; making everything look like a scene out of the twilight zone but when he stole another glance at Nico he seemed to glow like a minor god as he stared into the distance with those sad eyes half closed like he’d fall asleep any second. This time Leo couldn’t break his gaze, and ended up staring as he rested his head on his knees, and even when Nico turned with a raised eye brow he just cracked a small smile as he watched.       

“What is it?” Nico said in a gentle laugh.

“Nothing.” Leo mumbled as his eyes darted away, but came back in a few seconds only to meet Nico’s.

          They both stared, smiling and their bodies got too warm underneath the shawl. Nico somehow found himself leaning in, and Leo lifted his head out of his arms. Their lips parted as their foreheads touched. And when their eyes as finally shut—

_A giant bolt of lightning struck the half built mainmast!!!_

Setting it on fire, _again,_ as a chorus of booming thunder echoed low storm clouds.

“What the hell?” Leo snapped as he jumped back.

        It was took dark, and the only way he could see was flashes of distant lighting. Despite it, he was actually happy for the darkness because his face was burning bright red.

        He had almost . . . Nico almost. . . .

        _Almost._

“It’s not safe up here.” Nico said shortly as he handed Leo the small jar of salve.

        He quickly got up and grabbed Leo’s hand, and the next instant the both of them standing under the roofed entrances to below deck.

“What do we do about the fire? We can’t summon rain without Percy and Jason, and Piper took the cornucopia.” Said Leo

“I don’t think we have to summon rain because-” Nico’s voice was drowned out by more booming thunder as sheets of rain started pelting the deck.

        Nico shoved Leo inside and slammed the retractable door closed.

“Is there another control panel besides the one at the ships wheel?” Nico said quickly. “We need to lower the foremast’s sails and batten down the hatches, but it’s too dangerous to go above deck.”

“There’s one in the engine room.” Leo said quickly as he pulled Nico along.

“What about your repair machine outside?”  

“Oh you mean Bufford? He’s a robot table so rain doesn’t really bother him. I made with a water resistant polish, so he’s probably still trying to fix the mainmast. As long as he doesn’t get struck by lightning he’ll be alright.”

“If you say so.” Nico mumbled as he peeled the damp shawl off and bundled it into one arm.

        Leo threw the door to the engine room open and a gust of warm hair blew out, tosseling the boy’s messy hair around their face.

“This way.” Leo mumbled as he led Nico, weaving through a jungle gym of pipes and machinery until they came to a small circular clearing, that was most likely the dead center of the ship.

        There was a workbench with a clear view of something that looked like a status panel, a futon, and a crate filled with Italian snacks from Bologna. Leo smiled at the little cozy hole, then at Nico before blushing and taking a few steps back after realizing they were still holding hands.

“Sit over there while I take care of it.” Leo said shortly as he started tapping away at a large panel that changed its image every few seconds.

        Nico nodded and plopped down on the futon. It was soft, and the material was cool to the touch, like something inside the cushion was keeping the temperature steady. There was also a pillow at the end, and a light blanket thrown over the back. Nico could easily image Leo falling asleep here. Curling up, exhausted from a day filled with repairs, which happened a lot since the Argo II took quite a beating from monsters. It was hard to understand how he could be so much of an idiot, yet genius enough to run machinery like this all by himself.  Nico rested his chin in his hand and hid a blushing smile behind his fingers as in thought.

“Alright everything’s secure.” Leo said idly

“If only we could make a rainbow down here. We need to contact the others.” Nico mumbled.

 _“Actually—”_ Leo said before pulling down a small pipe that shined a beam like a flashlight and sprayed a light mist of water resulting in an instant rainbow. “ _I already thought of that.”_ Leo grinned.

        Nico rolled his eyes with a smile as Leo went to his work bench and pulled a durachama out of a draw and tossed it into the mist, reciting a request to the goddess Iris. Soon the image of six disgruntled teenagers huddled in a cave around a fire came into view.

“You guys alright? Its storming like hell outside.” Said Leo

“Leo!” Frank grinned,

        Everyone’s face turned and they all broke out in smiles.

“We’re okay after we found some shelter. How’s the ship doing?” said Annabeth.

“Everything’s under control. The mainmast got struck by lighting and caught on fire, but the rain put it out before it got bad.”

“Where’s Nico?” Hazel chirped.

“I’m here.” Nico sighed as he walked into view next to Leo.

“Are you guys getting along or—” Hazel started

“We actually having fun.” Leo said quickly to reassure her.

“Fun? With what?” said Annabeth

“Uh . . . playing Uno?” Leo said, spitting out the first thing that came to mind.

“I wanna’ play Uno.” Percy grumbled as he tried to warm up by the fire. “Next time I want to stay behind on the ship!”

“You already know we can’t do that.” Jason said firmly, “Anyway, Nico what happened to your arm?” said Jason.

“Huh?” said Nico

“ _Your arm._ It’s all wrapped up in bandages all the way from your shoulder.” Jason said as his eyebrows drew together.

        Leo swallowed hard and looked away.

“It’s nothing. Just a flesh wound.” Nico said shortly.

“Your entire left arm?” Hazel huffed.

“Yeah . . . _anyway_ we just wanted to make sure you guys were okay, and since you are—” Nico said quickly.

        He waved goodbye and slashed his hand through the mist, ending the call and retracting the water pipe into the ceiling.

“I’m sorry.” Leo blurted.

“Stop apologizing. I already said its fine.” Nico grumbled as he sat back down.

        Leo sat down next to him and started fidgeting with various tools from his belt, spinning them around on his finger before he got bored and switched to something else.

“So now what?” he said.

“We wait out the storm I guess.” Nico sighed as he rubbed his forehead, then pulled his shirt up to wipe his face clear of sweat from the steamy engine room, but after a while he pulled it off all together. “It’s too freaking hot down here, how do you even live?” Nico grumbled.

“Heat doesn’t really bother me so . . .” Leo’s voice trailed off as he tried not stare.

“Oh, right. The fire thing.” Nico laughed as he rolled his eyes.

        He sat back down, gingerly laying is arm on his lap and resting his head back on the futon. Sweat dripped from his cheek and ran down his neck, all the way to his chest where converged into faint little lines and disappeared into the fabric of his black jeans that were starting to cling in the humidity.

        Leo wrapped an arm around his stomach, and covered his face as he turned away, trying to pretend that Nico wasn’t sitting next to him half naked and sweaty. He started tapping with his heel and drumming his fingers against his cheek as he peaked over once.

        Nico opened one eye and looked at him with a lazy _–almost flirtatious–_ smirk. Leo immediately turned around and tapped with his heel faster.

“Do you actually have a deck of Uno?” Nico finally said.

“Not Uno, but I have a deck of cards.” Leo said quickly as he stood, and rummaged through the drawers of his work bench. 

 

        As he sifted through papers and miscellaneous, he peaked over at Nico again, who was leaning forward with his arms folded on his knees. He flashed a smile and Leo smiled back, turning around before Nico could see him flush.

“H-Here.” Leo breathed as he held the deck up.

        Nico stood and slipped it from his hands. He gently held the box in his burned hand, and pulled the flap open.

“Let’s play a game.” Nico said as he hopped on the bench and started dealing two hands.

“What kind of game?” Leo said as he sat on the opposite end.

“This game called war me and Bianca used to play. Do you know the deck rankings? Like a ten trumps a six, queen trumps jack, king trumps queen, ace trumps all?”

“Yeah, why?”

“The way the game goes, each player throws down a card, and who ever throws down the trumping card gets both and adds it to their pile—” Nico said as he threw down the last to cards face up; a red jack of hearts and a king of spades.

        Leo picked up both cards and smiled.

“But, if you’re slow—”

        Nico snatched the cards from Leo’s hand so fast the boy didn’t realize they were gone until he was staring at Nico, smirking as he held the card to his cheek.

“The other player can steal them. That’s why it’s called war.”

“Sounds interesting.” Leo grinned.

“It’s a good time killer for two.” Nico said as he threw down the king of spades on Leo’s pile and shuffled his own. “And you can’t look at your cards either. It has to be random. Also if one person gets three draws at in a row, you have to throw down two cards until the other person takes a draw.”

“Alright then. Let’s play.” Leo said eagerly as he shuffled his deck.

        On the first draw Leo threw down a jack, and Nico threw down a ten.

“Yes!” Leo said with a grin, but it fell into a frown as Nico snatched the cards before he could even move his hand.

“Too slow.” Nico laughed with a playful grin. He pressed his palm to his chin and flashed the cards with his fingers against his cheek.

        Leo felt his heart skip a beat as he got a challenging grin.

 “Draw.” He said.

        And with that the two went through an entire deck as the as the ship rocked back and forth, once causing the bench to tip for a second, spilling all the cards to the floor, and Leo to lose his balance and nearly fall off, but before he did Nico grabbed his hand and yanked him back so hard that Leo fell onto his chest and shoved him onto his back.

“U-Uh . . .” Leo stammered as he lifted his head.

        Both his elbows were on either side of Nico’s face, and their bodies were flush against another.

“Are you gonna’ move or take a nap on me?” Nico laughed.

“Right!” Leo chirped as he scrambled back.

        Nico swung his legs over the side of the bench and started picking up the cards. Leo hopped down and started picking them up too, and in no time they were playing on the floor again, throwing down the last card of the deck.

Two aces.

A red heart.

_And a black spade._

        Both boys snatched at the cards at once, but when their hand came up they were both locked on the flimsy cardstock in an iron grip.   

“What happens when to people grab on the card at once!?” Leo giggled.

“I-I don’t know Bianca was always faster than me!” Nico laughed as he tugged on the card.

“Let go!” Leo laughed as he yanked on the card.

“You let go!”

“No you!”

Soon the two were standing in a tug of war on over the two cards, both pulling as hard as they could until the card finally tore in half.

“Oh shit.” Said Leo

“I didn’t mean to tear it.” Nico said as he handed his half of the cards back.

“No it’s fine. I’ll just tape them back together.” Leo said as whipped a small roll of clear tape from his belt.

          He laid the cards on the work bench and lined them up perfectly, then put a small piece of tape across the tear so when he picked them up they were good as new.

“See?” Leo said holding up the card.

          Nico smiled. He reached for the card, but Leo pulled it out of reach.

“Ah, not so fast! I see what you’re tryna’ do.” Leo giggled.

          Nico laughed as he reached for the card, backing Leo up against a wall. Leo stood on his tiptoes, but Nico’s fingers were grazing his palm since he was just an inch taller. Their faces were so close, all Leo had to do was tilt his head to steal a kiss, but his heart was already pounding so hard, if he tried that he was worried he might faint. Nico was about to pluck the card away when the golden lights of the engine room started flashing red as an alarm went off.

“What’s going on?” Nico snapped as he backed off and grabbed his sword.

          Leo frowned at Nico’s sudden loss of interest, but then again most people would stop caring about a stupid card game with sirens go off.

“That alarm means the ships being attacked.” Leo grumbled as he tossed the cards on the table.

Nico quickly pulled on his shirt with a muffled groan as he moved his arm. “How do you get out of here?” he breathed

“Follow me.” Leo said taking Nico’s good hand as he led him out. Once they were out in the narrow hall, both of them sprinted up to the doors that lead above deck. Nico shoved it open, and a wave of water crashed in, soaking them clean and cold all the way through.

“What should I do?” Nico yelled over the booming thunder.

 “Take me to the wheel!” Leo yelled as he grabbed onto Nico.

          Nico nodded and after a moment of darkness the two of them were standing on the upper deck by the wheel. Leo grabbed a Wii-mote and booted up the control panel as Nico held him by the waist and tried to keep them from getting thrown off the deck as waves rocked the boat from side to side like bath toy.

“THERE’S SOMETHING UNDER THE SHIP! SOME KIND OF GAINT MOSNTER!” Leo yelled at the stop of his lungs so his voice was barely audible over the raging storm.

“HOW ARE WE GONNA’ FIGHT SOMETHING UNDER WATER? I CAN’T EVEN SWIM!” Nico yelled back.

          Leo’s face scrunched up in confusion and slight amusement.

“YOU CAN’T SWIM!? _WHY?”_ He laughed in a yell  

          Nico’s face flushed in the flashing lighting.

“NOT IMPORTANT! NOW HOW DO WE STOP THIS THING?” Nico yelled.

          Leo opened his mouth, but the two of them were thrown down to the lower deck as the boat lurched to the right. If Nico hadn’t been holding on, the two of them probably would’ve been on opposite ends of the ship getting swept into sea, but with a low growl Nico pulled Leo closer and after another moment of darkness, they were the meeting room where images of camp Half-blood moved on the walls.

          Nico shook the water out of his hair and ran his hands through it so it was slicked back and out of his face.

          If circumstances had been different, Leo would’ve had time to admire how nicely Nico’s dark clothes clung to his body when soaking wet, and the way he looked like an old school mobster with his hair pushed out of his face. His chest puffing up and down as he tried to catch his breath, and a dangerous, icy look was in his eyes. Sadly, Leo _didn’t_ have time, but despite himself he did take a second to notice, and imeaditly wished he hadn’t as he brain got clogged with _other_ thoughts that didn’t have to do with saving the ship.

“Leo what do we do?” Nico panted.

“H-Hold on.” Leo muttered as he rested his hands on the table and thought.

          He drummed his fingers on the as the chair around the table started sliding across the room as the ship lurched to the left.

“LEO!” Nico 

“I’M THINKING!” He snapped as he flipped around to face Nico.

Nico raised an eyebrow, then with a smile he pinched a small flame on one of Leo’s curls out.

 “Just hurry up alright?” Nico said gently. “If the ships starts sinking, I don’t know if I can shadow travel far enough to get us to land.”

          Leo rubbed a hand over his face and started pacing.

          How were they supposed to fight something they couldn’t even see? That monster _—whatever it was—_ was right under the ship and could bust the hull open at any second. They couldn’t take off because of the mainmast still being down, and even if that was an option flying in this storm was just as dangerous as staying on the water. Leo sat down in a chair and pulled an arm around his chest as he drummed his fingers against his ribs. After thinking for a while he looked up. Nico was smiling at him, and every inch of him felt warm despite being soaked in freezing ocean water. His gaze softened as his mind started to clear, then after a few seconds he jumped up and grabbed Nico by the shoulders.

“What is it?”

“I’ve got an idea. Come on.” Leo grinned. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHA
> 
> I BET U THOUGHT THEY WERE GONNA KISS. 
> 
> Also, what if i told you  
> *removes glasses*  
> I literally have no idea what the next chapter is gonna look like
> 
> Leo dosne't have an idea,  
> that was a lie
> 
> i flat out have no clue on how to write them out of this, i hate when this happens. Next update might be a while until i get an idea lol


	6. A great idea

“Take me back down to the engine room.” Said Leo

            Nico nodded, and after a rush of darkness, they were there. Leo hurried to the same panel he’d used before and started moving his hands all over it as what seemed to be the blueprint outlines of the ship and various other machinery flashed over screen.

            “What’re you doing?” Nico mumbled as he walked up next to him

            “I almost forgot I had harpoons installed under the ship after we ran into this weird sea monster thing a while back—”

            “What?” Nico spat

            “Oh right, that was before you came on board. But anyway it dragged me, Frank and Hazel to the bottom of the ocean and—”

            _“What!?”_ Nico yelled

            “Long story short I’m gonna’ shoot this thing from underwater to make it surface so we know what we’re dealing with.” 

            “And then what?”

            Leo took in a sharp breath and walked away as he started to rummage through his work bench.

            “I have a plan, don’t worry.” He mumbled.

            Nico frowned and rested his elbows on the work bench so when the boy looked up they were face to face.

            “You _sure_ you have plan? You’re not just making this up as you go . . . _Right?”_ Nico said in a warning tone.

            “I’m insulted! Why would you think I’d just _make this up as I go?_ ” Leo laughed as he started tapping on the bench.

            Nico squinted at Leo in a suspicious glare.

            “Because you’re doing the thing.”

            “The _what?”_ Leo blurted, totally lost.

            “The tapping thing! Whenever you get nervous you start tapping and never look me in the eye.”

            Leo felt his face flush as he looked away.

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He spat.

            “You’re doing it right now!” Nico laughed.

            Leo forced his hand to lay flat on the bench and glance at Nico for a few seconds before looking away.

            “No I’m not.” He mumbled

            _“Leo!”_

            “Look, just trust me alright!? I can do this!”

            Nico took a step back and sighed.

            “Just don’t do anything stupid.” Nico grumbled

            Leo smiled and snatched what he’d been looking for out of the drawer.

            “Me do something stupid? Impossible!” Leo laughed

            Nico groaned and rubbed his forehead as they started to leave the room, but the ship suddenly creaked too far to the left and they were on their backs sliding across the floor, hurdling toward a delicate piece of machinery.

            _“_ TAKE US ABOVE DECK!” Leo yelled as he grabbed onto Nico, and seconds before they slammed into what looked like a glass tank with silver liquid they reappeared in the storm.

            Leo stared up at the storming, blacked out sky and sighed a breath of relief.

            “Thank gods, that thing would’ve exploded on impact if we hit it.”

            Nico shuddered, then shook the rain water out of his hair.  

            “Okay now what?” Nico said.

            Leo started talking, but his voice was drowned out by thunder.

            “I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” Nico yelled.

            “I SAID, THE HARPOONS SHOULD BE FIREING ABOUT NOW AND THE MOSNTER WILL—”

            Leo’s eyes went wide as he stared at something behind Nico.

            “THE MOSNTER WILL WHAT?” Nico yelled.

            Leo shook his head and spun Nico around. Jutting out of the ocean, half the size of a ship was—

            “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?” Nico spat.

            “NO CLUE, BUT IT KINDA LOOKS LIKE AN OCTOPUS.” Leo yelled.

            The creature indeed had tentacle like limbs, but its face (if you could even call it that) was scaly, along with the rest of its skin.

            “OCTOPUSES DON’T HAVE SCALES YOU IDIOT!” Nico yelled.

            “YOU’VE GOT ANY BETTER IDEAS!?” Leo snapped back.

            “IT LOOKS MORE LIKE A—”

            The ship rocked again, and the two of them slide back down to the quarter deck. When they finally gathered their bearings and turned around to face the beast, it was blowing an arc of green fire overhead and bared clustered rows of spear like razor teeth.

Simultaneously, the boy’s faces fell in irritated scowl.

            “You’re kidding me.” Nico spat

            “Well a Sea-Drakon defiantly has the top spot on the list of things I didn’t know existed until I saw them.” Leo sighed.

            “How the hell are we supposed to fight that thing?” Nico hissed.

            Leo whipped a small remote from his pocket, and with the click of a button the two ballistae and cross bows self-aimed and fired into the Sea-Drakon’s throat, automatically reloading and waiting to fire over and over at the remotes command.

            “I don’t think that’ll kill it but it’s a start.” Leo said thoughtfully

            The thundering seemed to die down a little, and the ship stopped swaying from side to side for a moment, but the Drakon still looked lively. It lifted several long tentacles and slammed them across the deck at random, forcing Nico to shadow travel with Leo to a different spot every few seconds while the boy worked the remote; eventually slowing down the monster so by the time Nico collapsed on the ground to catch his breath the monster looked like it grew patches of spiked skin around its neck.

            “How much longer-do we- have to-keep this up?” Nico panted.

            Leo got a thoughtful look, and watched as the sea monster slammed its limbs into the ballista and smashed it to pieces.

            “Well I think we’re done with that part of the plan. Time for phase two.” Leo sighed.

            “And what’s phase two.” Nico grumbled

            Leo got an uncomfortable look let out a deep breath.

            “I need you to go below deck.”  He said quickly.

            “No. Now what are you trying to do.” Nico said firmly.

            “What? It’s part of the plan just go below deck for a few minutes.”

            “No.” Nico said flatly.

            “Why not!?”

            “Because you’re going to do something stupid I can feel it.” Nico snapped.

            “Just trust me!” Leo yelled.

            Nico glared at Leo, but tackled him out of the way from getting crushed under a tentacle.

            “Not until you tell me what you’re going to do.” Nico grunted.

            Leo rolled his eyes and started drumming on the deck.

            “I’m going to jump off the ship and boil the water around the monster.” Leo blurted

            “WHAT!?” Nico yelled.

            “I’m pretty sure if I make it hot enough it’ll kill the monster or at least make it go away.” Leo said quickly.

            “NO!”

            “But-”

            “THINK OF SOMETHING ELSE!”

“NICO LISTEN TO ME!”

“YOU’RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED.”

“JUST _TRUST ME!_ ”

Nico stepped back and scowled. The rain had slicked his hair against his skull, and his cheeks were red from exhaustion, but what stood out the most was his eyes. They were missing the usual faraway look he often wore and were storming in a dark, pensive anger.

Or was it worry?

Hard to tell in this dark when they only had the occasional flash of lighting for light.  

Nico sighed and opened his mouth to speak, but this time it was Leo who shoved him out of the way from getting crushed, but in the processes they lost their grip on one another; and as the ship rocked they slid down to opposite ends of the deck, but conveniently, Leo ended up on the side closer to the sea monster.

            He slapped on the mask gotten out of his work bench before so he could breathe under water and it stuck to his face like a suction cup, covering everything below the bridge of his nose and wrapping snuggly around his jaw. With a deep breath, he jumped ship before Nico could stop him.

  

* * *

 

Hitting the water hurt a lot more than he thought it would, but then again he was jumping off a warship into a raging ocean. From this day on, Leo would look down on Olympic diving, bragging that literally _anyone_ could do it every time the subject came up.

            Except that would be later. Right now he was only concerned about swimming closer to the monster; but the water was dark and cold, and he could barely see save a faint, green glow he kept swimming toward until he bumped into a disgusting, slimy mass.

Thankfully the monster didn’t seem to notice, so without interruption Leo fished a small contraption he’d made a while back out of his belt. It was fairly small, about the size of an open palm, and had one smooth red button in the center.

Despite all of the magic nonsense in Greek mythology, Leo refused to believe fire ( _even magic fire_ ) could still ignite underwater, so as a precaution in case they were ever kidnapped by mer-folk or any other sort of creature that would drag them under, he’d built this device that would deploy a steady, high pressure spray of oxygen. Which underwater would make an air bubble, which would make it possible for him to catch fire and boil the water around him.

But the gadget only had about five minutes of oxygen on it, so he had make sure he could generate enough heat to boil water in that time; which (as he started to realize) was a worry since it usually took about twenty minutes to boil isolated, room tempter water on a stove.

How was he going boil freezing water in an _ocean?_       

Panic started to creep into his chest, but before it set into his mind, he remembered.

_A demigod’s power reacts to their emotions._

Leo grinned under his mask at Nico’s words, and tried to think of something that would make him angry to help him make an inferno . . . _but for some reason he could only think of the boy’s smile._

_And his gentle laugh._

_The dreamy look in his eyes when he stared at the moon,_

_The way his dark hair fell in loose waves,_

_The sound of his voice when he called Leo’s name,_

_The feel of his skin,_

_His bare chest,_

_His muscular back,_

_And how soft his lips looked when they had almost—_

 

            Leo could feel water bubble across his skin, and as he clapped his hands over his face in embarrassment, he almost forgot to hit the button to start his oxygen bubble.

            _Almost_

Above, Nico scanned the empty deck and felt his heart drop.

            _“That idiot didn’t really . . .”_ Nico thought.

            His mind wandered to the worst, as Nico knew all too well how real death was. How easy and often it happened among demigods, but before he could think of every terrible domino effect of Leo dyeing, _-bitterly shoving down his personal feelings on the matter-_ the Sea Drakon started wailing a horrible noise; and then slowly started sinking back into the ocean as a familiar voice started yelling his name.

            _“LEO!”_ Nico screamed as he shadow traveled to the edge of the boat.    

            The Latino was bobbing in the water, and when he pulled off the mask his face was bright red.

            “Throw me down a ladder! There in the storage room!”

            Nico nodded and traveled under deck to the room and then back above, completely forgetting that he was utterly exhausted until Leo out of the water and back on the ship. The boy took one step on deck, and practically collapsed in Nico’s arms.

            “Leo? Are you okay?”

            “Mmmm . . . tired.” Leo sighed before passing out.                      

            Nico rolled his eyes with a smile. It probably took a lot of him to generate that much energy, no wonder he was exhausted. Slowly but surely, Nico carried Leo across the deck, which turned out to be quite a pleasant walk.

            Right before going below, Nico propped Leo up in his arms and stared at breath taking sunrise. The sky had cleared so pale yellow light outlined the storm clouds that all seemed to turn back into large, fluffy white masses; and the air was cool and crisp like the after rain but had the salty, lingering scent of the ocean. Light of a new morning rose out from the horizon and molecules of water in the air refracted light, giving a sort of pseudo sparkle effect in the distance as the faintest hint of a rainbow hung like an arc over it all.

            “Leo. Leo wake up you’ve gotta see this.” Nico breathed as he shook the boy awake.

            Leo grumbled and blinked his sleepy eyes open at the horizon.

            “Look! It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

            Leo frowned at the horizon, and wrapped his arms around Nico’s neck. He leaned into the boy’s ear, and whispered in a sleep drunk voice.

            “I think . . . _you’re_ beautiful.” Leo giggled before head slumped and he fell back asleep.

            Nico felt his face flush and every inch of him burn in embarrassment as he carried Leo his room. He gently laid the boy on his bed, but frowned at his soaking wet clothes.

            _“Would it be weird if I . . ?”_ Nico thought.

            Leo would probably catch a cold if he slept like that, but changing his clothes while he was asleep seemed a little . . .

            Nico almost decide to leave him as he was, but after watching Leo curl up into a shivering ball he felt his heart melt, and the choice was made for him. Nico threw open Leo’s closet and threw filthy shirt after filthy shit behind him until he was at a pile of tangled suspenders.

            _“Dose this guy ever do his freaking laundry?”_ Nico thought with a grumble.

            There was literally nothing left for him to wear, and Percy, Jason, and Frank all wore clothes that were a few sizes too big for him.  Only choice left was—

            Nico felt himself blush again as he imaged Leo asleep in his shirt, and before his mind to wander to _other_ things, he quickly shadow traveled to his room, grabbed the first shirt of his stack of clothes (and with an afterthought, a few towels) then re-appeared in Leo’s room. He sat down on the edge of the bed and started drying the boy off, (finding the way his curly hair turned poofy after being run down with a towel particularly amusing) and then finally started stripping the soaking clothes off him until Leo was laying naked save his soaking wet boxers.

            _“M-Maybe this was a bad idea. . .”_ Nico thought as he swallowed hard and ran his eyes all over.

            He almost didn’t want to put a new set of clothes on Leo. It was a little weird for a guy to be described as soft, but that’s the only thing Nico could come up with when he looked at that frail little body. His shoulders were narrow and delicate, but his arms were oddly toned. Perhaps from all the work he did with his hands? Whatever the case, they were about the only part of him to be muscled as the rest of him seemed to be covered in a layer of baby fat, most easily shown in his face and rosy cheeks . . .that at the moment seemed a little _too_ red for some reason, like he was sick.  

            Nico frowned and put a hand to Leo’s face.

            He was ice cold.

            Now that Nico took a step back and _really_ looked at Leo, the boy was trembling in cold, but his cabin was fairly humid, not quite as much as the engine room but considerably warmer than anyone else’s. So why was he freezing?  Nico shook his head and pulled the black shirt over Leo. Then after realizing he’d forgotten to get the boy a pair of pants, he just wrapped a throw blanket draped over a chair around Leo’s hips like skirt. He smiled, satisfied, but for some reason Leo still shivered. Nico touched the boy’s forehead again, and he was so cold the skin that had touched him stung.

            Leo’s breath started to come out ragged, and he was shivering like he’d been caught in a snow storm. He suddenly remembered Hazel talking how strange it was that Leo would freeze when he got sick instead of burning up like normal person.

_“But it kinda makes sense though. When he gets excited he catches on fire, so guess the cold is lethal to him. When we were flying over the Atlantic it was always freezing and he hardly ever came out of the engine room.”_

            

            _“I need to warm him up . . . but how?”_ Nico thought.

           

             He didn’t think more blankets would help. Stealing one of the girl’s hairdryers to fan heat on him would take too long. Putting him in the kitchen’s oven might work . . . but there was no way Nico could bring himself to do that, even if he knew for a fact Leo could withstand heat a lot stronger. After Leo started coughing, Nico had enough. He picked the boy up and shadow traveled to the hottest place on the Argo he could think of. The engine room. He plopped down on the futon and let out a tired breath. Leo was still shivering, but not as bad as before as he wrapped his arms around Nico’s chest and snuggled closer.

            Nico blinked, and started to take in the situation he found himself in.

            Leo was in his arms.

            Wearing _his_ shirt.

            Fast asleep.

            And they were absolutely _alone._

            _“Maybe he should jump into the ocean more often. . .”_ Nico thought with a stupid grin as he rested his head back.

            The only thing stopping the moment short of perfect was the engine room. It was loud with whirring noises of machinery and the tempter was still a gross, sticky humid. All of it got on every single last one of Nico’s nerves as he preferred a cool, breathable room in silence like his own, but Leo looked like he was improving in the environment, and since he didn’t want to leave the boy unattended, it looked like he’d be spending the night here with him here. Nico banged his shoulders against the back support of the futon in irritation, and with a POP it unfolded into a bed so he was laying on his back with Leo on top of him.

            _“Alright then. Not bad.”_ Nico thought as he rolled Leo to his side and made himself comfortable.

            He wanted to take his shirt off in his sticky heat, but that would’ve been a little _too much_. He could explain to Leo why he was undressed and in his clothes, but there was no way he could explain _that_ . . . but then again—

 

 _I think you’re beautiful_    

 

            Nico blushed at the thought of it and rolled away, covering his face in embarrassment. But after a while, he turned back around and pulled Leo closer. He propped his head up with one hand and started twirling one of Leo’s curls on his fingers.

             The boy had a gentle face when he slept, and though the red in his cheeks was starting to subside it still looked like he had a blush across his face.  Nico moved his hand, and traced a line down from the corner of Leo’s eye to the tip of his jaw, then held his chin and ran a thumb over the boy’s lips.

            His eyes widened as he suddenly remembered that they’d almost kissed before all the chaos had started.

            _Almost._

But almost wasn’t enough.

            Nico wanted to kiss him, and it took every ounce of strength not to steal one while he was sleeping. If Leo really _did_ like him back, he should wait. And if he didn’t like him, all the more reason to hold restraint. Nico huffed and laid on his back so he stared at the ceiling.

            _“I can’t do this.”_ He grumbled under his breath.

            His face fell into a scowl, but it soon melted as Leo wrapped an arm around Nico and buried his face in his chest. Nico felt his face burn again, then smiled.

            _“Well maybe I can deal with it for a little while.”_ Nico thought as his eyes started to droop.

            And before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When are they gonna kiss i'm writhing this shit and even i'm starting to get impatient,
> 
> next chapter will come a lot sooner it took me hellas to figure out a plan for leo jfc never going to write myself into a corner like that again. 
> 
> this fic should be ending in abut 3-4 more chpaters


	7. Lazy days are good days

            When Leo woke up, he thought he was having one of those inception type dreams where you wake up to another dream and think your up, but really still asleep.

            After all, how else could he have ended up wrapped in Nico’s arms in the engine room? He didn’t recall telling him that the futon unfolded into a bed, or anyone else. Everyone on the Argo just assumed he feel asleep at the bench. His face was so close, and his hold was a little more than secure, if not possessive. Leo couldn’t move a few inches in any direction without pushing into Nico’s arms.   

            The more he took in the situation, the more like a dream it seemed to be.  

            Like how he was wearing _Nico’s_ shirt.     

            He didn’t own anything like this and all the other guys wore shirts a few sizes up, and he _severely_ doubted any of the girls had an affinity for the skull design.  He lifted the neck of the shirt up to his nose, and that sealed it. It smelled exactly like the black shawl, it had to be Nico’s.

            Leo felt his face burn again and covered his face with his hands; but after he calmed down a little, he snuggled up against him and buried his face in his chest.

            He listened to the steady heartbeat, more soothing than any of the noises the engine room produced to help him fall asleep; and he felt so safe and comfortable he would’ve fallen back asleep if Nico hadn’t sat up.

            The sleepy demigod blinked his eyes open, and looked at Leo in a confused sort of stare. Probably wondering why the boy was in his bed, but after a minute Nico realized that it was _him_ out of place, and when his memories came back, he blushed bright red.

            “Uhhh, I-I can explain.” Nico said quickly.

            Leo blushed at his embarrassment and sat up, listing as Nico gave a quick recap of what happened after he passed out. That he absolutely _had_ to change him out of his clothes, emphasizing on how he needed to do his laundry when he got to the shirt, and in a exasperated sigh explaining that he moves a lot in his sleep and didn’t mean to get that close.

            “O-Oh. Alright then. Thanks for taking care of me.” Leo smiled.

            Nico frowned, and got a confused look.

            “You mean you’re not werided out?”

            “Eh, not really. You were just trying to keep me warm after all.” Leo said thoughtfully. “But the fact that you decided to stay in the engine room with me is a little weird. It’s almost like you have a crush on me.” Leo laughed as he looked away and scratched the back of his neck.

            He waited for Nico to object, to get angry, yell that it was a stupid joke and go on about how he’d get a sun tan before that happened, but . . . he didn’t say anything.

            After an awkward pause, Nico cleared his throat and spoke.

            “W-What if I said I did? Hypothetically speaking that is!” He said quickly.

            Leo took in a sharp breath and felt his face burn. He turned back to face Nico, who was bright red and focusing on a gas tank a few yards away. He tried to speak, but his throat was suddenly dry and far too tight, but after a little struggle he managed to choke out a few words.

            “U-Uh . . . well, _h-hypothetically_ _speaking_ , I’d have to say that I maybe . . .”

            Leo swallowed and stared down, but before he could finish, the smell of fresh rain filled the air, and they both looked to each other in horror as they realized what was happing.

            _An Iris message was coming, and they only had a few seconds before whoever was calling would see them._

            “You take it.” Leo said quickly as he got up.

            Nico vigorously shook his head, and with an apologetic smile, he disappeared in a wisp of black smoke. 

 _“That is so not fair.”_ Leo grumbled.

            “Hey!” Annabeth’s voice chimed from the shimmering image.

            Leo whipped around, and ran a hand through his hair as he tried to think.

            “Pfft, nice bed head.” She laughed.

            “Nice face dirt.” Leo shot back.

            And he was right, Annabeth was covered in grime, her hair was frizzed, and she looked like any other demigod would on a quest.  She rolled her eyes with a smile, then started speaking.

            “So how’s everything going on the ship? You still in once piece?”

            “Uhhh, Everything’s good here. The storm was a little rough, but we held out alright.”

            “Are you sick? You look a little red.” Annabeth said as her eyebrows came down together.

            _As if Piper was bad enough, now Annabeth was onto him._

            “A-Actually yeah! I fell off the ship yesterday and the cold got me pretty bad.

            “ _What!?_ Where was Nico? What happened?” Annabeth snapped.

            Leo frowned as his expression steadily fell into a scowl. What did Nico have to do with him falling off the ship? Did she not trust him? The way she asked about him made it sound like it was Nico’s fault he fell overboard.

            “ _Actually_ Nico’s the one who got me out of the water.”

            _“Really?”_ Annabeth said, taken aback.

            “Yeah. Why are you so surprised?”

            “I-I’m not! It’s just I never would’ve. . . I thought he’d—”

            “You thought he’d let me drown?” Leo snapped.

            “I didn’t say that! It’s just for as long as I’ve known Nico he doesn’t really care too much about others. I only thought he would’ve let you sort it out on your own.” She said quickly.

            _“Yeah right.”_ Leo thought.

            He already knew nobody really trusted Nico, hell if it wasn’t for Hazel, they probably wouldn’t even have gone to save him in the first place . . . but this was a little much. Did they _really_ not have an ounce of faith in him? Or was he just feeling defensive for other reasons. . . 

            “Anyway! We’ve finally found the temple where the scepter should be in, and I just wanted to check in before we went under . . .” Annabeth finshed in a mumbled as she stared.

            “What is it?” said Leo

            “Oh, it’s just your shirt . . . I didn’t know you were into the whole skull thing—”

            “Uh, yeah! I’ve always had a thing for skulls so uh, _BYE!”_ Leo said quickly as he slashed through the message.

            The last thing he saw was Annabeth opening her mouth to speak, and the image disintegrated into nothing.

            Leo crouched on the ground and covered his face in embarrassment.

            That girl was too smart for her own good, she’d figure him out before he had a chance to figure _himself_ out. From now on he’d be sure to be just as careful about her as he was with Piper.

            After he calmed down a little, he walked back over to the bed and made himself comfortable while thinking about Nico’s words. Did he really like him? Or was Nico just joking?

            Scratch that, Nico wasn’t the joking type. Sarcastic? Yeah, but outright jokes were beyond him. He was always serious, and the few times he wasn’t Leo could clearly hear it in his voice. The thought of it made his stomach flutter and he curled up into a ball, hugging his legs as he smiled. There was a chance that Nico really did like him, and he’d been so close to find out.

 _“I never gave him an answer.”_ Leo thought as he bolted up.

            He jumped off the futon, grabbed the black shawl off his work bench and hurried upstairs. He was about to start searching for Nico, but decide to brush his teeth first . . . and maybe get a drink of water . . . and probably some aspirin from the sick bay. His head was aching, and without the burning warmth he got when he felt embarrassed, he suddenly realized how cold he was.  

 _“Guess the cold got me worse than I thought.”_ Leo grumbled.

            He turned for the boy’s bathroom, shivering when his bare feet touched the cold tile. After fishing his orange toothbrush out of the cup, he turned struggled to open the cap. The more he tried, the more he realized how sick he was. His arms felt like jelly, and he couldn’t’ even managed to untwist a tube of toothpaste. He was on the verge of heading back to his room to get his belt and pull out a wrench when Nico suddenly appeared next to him.

            “Do you need help with that?” he laughed.

            Either Leo had gotten used to him appearing out of nowhere, or he was too weak to be startled, but in the end he simply nodded and handed the tube over. Now it looked like he was watching Nico open it, but really he was staring at the boy. It his hair was wet, like he’d just taken a shower and he was barefoot, only wearing a pair of jeans – _Actual blue jeans. Apparently he owned clothes that weren’t black—_ with his shirt slung over his shoulder.

            “Here.” Nico chirped.

            Leo nodded a thank you and squeezed a drop of the paste onto his toothbrush. Nico took it back, and started brushing himself. Brush, spit, rise, and they were standing side by looking into the mirror, showing just how sick and disheveled Leo really was compared to Nico.

            “Nice bedhead.”

            Leo rolled his eyes.

            “Nice face.” He spat.

            Leo huffed, satisfied with the comeback, but thought again.

            _“Wait, did I just—”_

“Thanks. You too.” Nico said quietly.

            Leo breathed a line of steam out of his nose and stared at the ground as he blushed. He peaked out the corner of his eye to the mirror and found that Nico was blushing as well.

            “Are you hungry? You still look sick, so you should eat something.” Nico offered. 

            “Yeah . . .” Leo mumbled as he started walking.

            He was pleased to find Nico went along with him, but frowned he pulled a shirt on. When they got to the mess hall, food was already on the table, summoned by their thoughts like it appeared back at camp half blood. Nico twisted open the cap of a thermos, and grimaced.

            “Ew, you like tomato soup?” he spat.

            “You got a problem with tomato soup?” Leo snapped, though it came out more like a drunken insult as his head reeled with a bad headache.

            “It’s liquid ketchup!” Nico said shortly.

            Leo frowned, and snatched the thermos away, or at least he tried to but he missed the first time, so Nico ended up handing it over. 

            “Well the kind my mom made was _delicious._ Only the canned stuff tastes like ketchup.” Leo huffed.

            And with that, he turned on his heels, a little too fast so he almost tripped, but Nico caught him before he hit the floor.

            “Thanks. . .” Leo mumbled as he clutched the warm thermos in his hands and walked out to the deck with Nico’s footsteps echoing behind him.

            The sun was bright overhead and made him squint, but the way it beat down on his skin felt good, and a warm breeze was blowing through, much more refreshing than the stuffy engine room. He walked over to the port side of the ship, and slumped down against the ship’s railing. After few minutes of trying to make himself comfortable on the hardwood deck, he gave up and flopped on his stomach, clutching the thermos to his chest. 

            “Are you okay?” Nico said as he crouched down.

            “I’m fine . . . just uncomfortable.” Leo sighed.

            “Why don’t I get you a pillow or something?” Nico offered.

            Leo’s head perked up off the deck to look at Nico.

            “Can you?” he asked eagerly.

            “Yeah, just hang tight.” Nico said before disappearing. 

            After a short pause, he reappeared with Leo’s pillow and blanket from his cabin and dropped them at his feet.

            “Thank—”

            Nico disappeared again before Leo could finish, then reappeared with more pillows, only for a few seconds before coming back and going several times until there was a pile so large Leo could barely see over it.

            “There.” Nico sighed, satisfied with his handiwork.

            Leo shoved the pillows out of the way to see Nico.

            “Where did you get all of these?” Leo laughed.

            “Oh. Well at first I got mine too, but then I figured Hazel wouldn’t mind if I borrowed her’s to help. And you seem closer with Frank now so I kinda took his too, but Piper’s your best friend so I went back to get her’s, and Annabeth’s room was right next door so I picked those up too, _aaaand_ at that point I kinda figured Jason and Percy wouldn’t mind.” Nico mumbled as he looked away and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.    

            Leo let out a small laugh, and pulled the shawl tight around his shoulders.

            “Thanks.” He said quietly, staring down as a light blush crept into his cheeks. 

            Nico looked down at the boy and felt his heart skip. He looked so cute and small bundled up like that. His hair was messed up in the most attractive way, and the way the he sat with his legs pulled in was making him wish he’d taken Leo to his room.  

            “N-No problem!” Nico said quickly as he got on his knees and started organizing the pile into a pseudo chair of pillows and blankets.

            Leo scooted back and watched until Nico was done and moved back so he could sit. He sat down, and felt perfectly comfortable. It felt like he was on a cloud, rather a hard wooden deck.

            “It feels nice.” Leo sighed

            “Good.” Nico smiled.

            After a pause, Leo scooted over on the large pile.

            “Come on, there’s more than enough room and you worked so hard to make it.” He laughed.

            Nico blushed a little, then sat snug next to Leo, who was struggling to open the tight thermos cap with his shaking arms.

            “Do you need help with –”

            “I’m not usually this weak! It’s just because I’m sick and my arms feel like pudding.” Leo huffed as he handed it over.

            Nico laughed, twisted it open and poured some into the cap.

            “Careful though, it’s _really_ —”

            Leo took the thermos and drank out of it like a water bottle.

            “ _Hot_ . . .” Nico sighed.

            Leo wiped his mouth and gave him an unimpressed glance.

            “If you really think hot soup will burn me then I think you’ve forgotten that I literally catch fire. Just don’t give me any iced coffee though. I’ll probably choke and die.”  

            Nico laughed again, and slumped back into the pillows. Even when he was sick, Leo was still pretty lively, though not nearly as much as he was when he was in good health. Pretty soon they fell into content silence, until Nico spoke up.

            “You said this is how your mom used to make it right?” he said as he stared at the cup in his hands.”

            “Yeah. Do you wanna’ try it?” Leo smiled.

            “I do.”

            “Well go ahead, I can’t finish this whole thing anyway.” Leo laughed.

            Nico smiled, and took a sip. To his surprise, it was a lot spicier than he thought it’d be, and he could taste small chunks of real tomato along with several other soft vegetables he couldn’t name that all went quite well together. The soup opened up his sinuses and made his eyes water a little, but that didn’t stop him from gulping down the rest of it and snatching the thermos away from Leo.

            “What’s in this? Last time I checked tomatoes weren’t this spicy.” Nico mumbled as he poured more into his cup.     

            “Eh, she used to put in lots of pepper, and potatoes, and green beans . . . and uh, oh sometimes shredded chicken and a few other things. Whatever we really had on hand to be honest. ” Leo said thoughtfully as he stared at the clouds, trying to remember.

            “It’s _really_ good.” Nico mumbled.

            He finished off what was in his cup, but frowned when he went to pour more from the thermos and found it empty.

            “Do you remember the exact recipe? I can’t summon the stuff since I don’t have your memory of it.”

            “It was a long time ago, so not really.  I’d have to be in a kitchen and make it myself. If you ever get sick I’ll make you some.” Leo smiled.

            “But I don’t wanna’ wait till I get sick . . . why not after you feel better?” Nico grumbled.

            “Fair enough.” Leo sighed as he pulled his legs in and wrapped the shawl around them.

            He laid back against the pillows, but after a while as the boat gently rocked on the ocean’s waves, he eventually slumped on Nico’s shoulder.

            They just sat like that for a while, watching the clouds slowly pass overhead as the sun started it’s decent into the evening. It was looking like a lazy day, but it was nice to just relax in peace for once. After a while, Nico started playing with the fringe on the edge of the shawl, twisting the small tassels into braids out of content boredom until the lower half was all tied up.            

            He moved up the shawl, and Leo fanned the fabric out so he could play with it. Somewhere along the way they readjusted their bodies without realizing it, so Nico was sitting with one leg tucked in, resting his right arm on one upright knee, and had Leo tucked securely against his chest, almost in a hold as Nico had to reach his left arm around the boy to reach the tassels on the other side.

            Leo could feel his eyes starting to droop, but he drummed his fingers on the part of the fabric he still held, watching Nico’s fingers work until they brushed against his when he reached for the last few tassels.

            “Oh sorr—” Nico started      

            “Mm-hm.” Leo mumbled as he hooked his index finger around Nico’s.

            Nico sighed, and rested his hand against Leo’s who started tapping _I love you_ on each digit until he got too sleepy and nodded off. Nico smiled and rested his chin on the boy’s head as he closed his fingers around Leo’s in a hold; and just like that, he fell right asleep.    

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol sorry this chapter is so boring, i was actually having a chill lazy day myself. Gonna take a nap and try and get started on the next chapter.  
> I'd say about 3 more chapters left? Not sure, give er take. 
> 
> i love easy fluff, where it's not anime level fluff but like  
> I just rest on your shoulder,  
> and your hand finds mine  
> and without talking it just happens ya know?  
> i like easy stuff like that. it's nice n' relaxing. 
> 
> Comment about how your likeing the fic so far and the chapter (again im sorry this was so boring)  
> it really means a lot to me, i work hard so it's nice to know if you guys actually like the stuff i'm making.


	8. End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To be honest i had thought this fic would be longer, and i honestly intended for it to be a little longer, but this is a good place to end it as i'm honestly too busy right now and leaveing thigns undon stress me out. I may revist this fic, or make a sequal when i get a Valdanglo craveing later on, but i won't make any promsies since i'm no good at keeping them. Consider this story done.

            When Nico woke up, the setting sun had dyed the world in a golden light; the twilight sky was bright pink with outlines of a fiery orange around the clouds and a brisk sea breeze rustled his hair in time with the rolling waves of the ocean rocking the ship back and forth like a soothing lullaby.

            He was twirling one of Leo’s curls on his index finger as he stared at the sky in thought, trying to remember the last time he’d felt so at peace, though he had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with the boy sleeping in his arms.

            Nico smiled, and let out a content sigh. By now he knew he cared deeply for Leo, but this feeling felt foreign to him. When he realized he had feelings for Percy, everything had hurt. He felt sick and hated every bit of it, but with Leo . . . it was different. Right now he was happy, and being around Leo made him feel warm from the inside out, but then again, Leo _literally_ radiated heat; and speaking of which, that was probably the only reason they had been able to lounge on the deck after the sun’s warmth had faded for the day.

            The winds of the sea were getting colder as night slowly set in, so Nico gently shook Leo’s shoulder until the boy’s lashes fluttered open.

            “We should probably get inside. It’s getting cold out.” Nico said gently.

            Leo just stared at him for a moment with a sleepy look, then slowly nodded and stood up in a stretch.

            “Are you hungry?” He yawned as he wrapped the shawl closer around his shoulders.

            Leo turned back to face Nico with a smile, and in the fading light he looked radiant as the sun itself. Nico felt his stomach churn with butterflies as he nodded and walked alongside him to the mess hall’s severely underused kitchen.

             Most everyone on the ship didn’t bother with the kitchen as meals would appear on the table at a simple thought, but every now and then Leo would make something for the fun of it since it was a good pass time and no one else on the ship really knew how to cook anyway.

            When he approached the stove, Leo wrapped the shawl around his waist like a skirt; maybe he wasn’t too eager to take it off, or maybe because he was still in his boxers that’d been concealed by the shawl up till now, or perhaps for both of the reasons.

            The stove itself was old fashioned. Black iron and wood burning, but it was easier for Leo to just conjure a fire rather than wire an electric stove top into the ship since he was the only one who ever used it to begin with. He was in the mood for something warm and hearty, though a little more filling than the tomato soup he had earlier, and as the recipe fell into mind the ingredients – _a defrosted bowl of pre-prepared shrimp, a bag of rice, a bowl of lobster meat, and variety of vegetables_ — appeared on the table.

            “Help me with this will ya’?” Leo chirped as he grabbed what his arms could carry.

            Nico nodded and took the rest, following in Leo’s example and setting it all in order on the counter top around the stove. Leo pulled a tall soup pot out from a cupboard and set it under the sink, letting hot water run into for a while.

            “How do you feel about spicy food?” Leo said as he watched the water fill in.

            “Well define spicy.” Nico chuckled.

            “A little hotter than that tomato soup.” Leo said as he shut off tap and set the pot on the stove.

            “I think I can handle that.”

            “Good, because I only have spicy seasoning in stock.” Leo laughed as he opened the top cupboard and scanned a row of spices.

            After some thought, he reached up for one, but instead of bringing it down his fingers just pushed the jars back further.

            “Dammit, let me get a chair real quick.” Leo sighed as he turned around, but before he could walk away Nico pulled him back. He grabbed Leo around the waist and thigh, then lifted him up.

            “Hurry up, you’re heavy.” Nico mumbled, though he was smiling and didn’t seem to be struggling to with Leo’s weight at all, which was probably because Leo weighed about the same as Hazel if not a little lighter with his scrawny frame.

            Leo smiled, and snatched about an armful of small jars out of the cabinet, then tapped Nico on the shoulder to put him down so he could get to work, but as he started throwing ingredients into the pot, Nico’s hands never seemed to leave Leo’s hips, and by the time he was chopping vegetables, Nico’s arms were wrapped around the boy’s stomach and his chin was on Leo’s shoulder.

            “How much longer till it’s ready?” Nico mumbled

            Leo threw in the last of the ingredients and shut the lid over it tight.

            “Usually about thirty minutes— _Nico groaned and he rolled his eyes_ —but I’ll try to speed things up a little.” Leo chuckled.

            His eyebrows came down together as he concentrated on the bubbling pot, until so much steam was blowing out of the air holes the lid popped off. But out of reflex Leo grabbed it out of the air and slammed it back down, where it turned back to a steady simmer.

            “Don’t burn it!” Nico laughed.

            “Well if this gets messed up we can always just summon food.” Leo offered.

            “No, I want to eat this. Food made with magic always has this weird aftertaste.” Nico   

            “Yeah I know what you mean . . .” Leo mumbled as his hand wandered to his waist.

            He was a little surprised when he found Nico’s arm there but sighed a content breath as he started running a finger up across the ridges of bandage.

            “How’s your arm feeling today?” Leo said quietly.

            Nico’s hold on his waist got a little together.

            “It’s fine, but it might heal faster if you keep giving me food. And thanks for leaving me breakfast yesterday morning. ” Nico chuckled.

            Leo smiled and plucked one of the left over shrimp out of the bowl, ripped the shell off and rubbed a little salt into it.

            “Here. It’s precooked so you can eat it.” Leo said quietly as he held it up to Nico’s mouth.

            Nico grinned and ate it out of Leo’s hand, biting his finger in process.

            “Ow! You did that on purpose!” Leo laughed.

            “Did not.” Nico mumbled into Leo’s neck. “Give me another one, I’m starving.”

            Leo rolled his eyes and repeated the process; taking another shrimp, ripping off the shell, salt, and feeding it to Nico over his shoulder until the bowl was empty.

            “There’s no more, the rest of it’s in the pot.” Leo laughed.

            Nico groaned, but settled down after Leo nuzzled his cheek.

            “It’ll be ready in a minute.” Leo mumbled.

            With their foreheads pressed against each other, their half closed eyes meet with a longing gaze, and slowly, as their eyes shut, their lips touched in a gentle kiss. 

            Leo took in a little breath as his hand went over Nico’s and their finger’s laced together. He breathed out a soft moan as he parted his lips and felt Nico squeeze his hand.

            But after a while his legs started to feel weak, and his chest felt so hot he was worried he might—

            Leo gasped for air and shoved Nico back.

            “Is something wrong?” Nico said quietly.

            Leo looked up from the ground and saw the hurt in his face.

            “No! No . . .” Leo mumbled as he wrapped his arms around Nico and squeezed him in a hug.

            “Then what happened?” Nico chuckled as he ran a hand through Leo’s hair.

            “I uh . . . I was worried I might . . .”

            “Catch fire?”

            Leo looked up from Nico’s chest to meet his gaze.

            “How did you—”     

            Nico cocked his chin at Leo’s bangs and pinched a small flame out.

            “A demigod’s power is connected to their emotions.” Nico laughed as he wrapped his arms around Leo and slouched onto his shoulder. “But If I made you want to catch fire then I guess I’m doing something right.” Nico said in a low voice as he nuzzled Leo’s neck and started on a line of kisses.

            Leo squeezed his eyes shut and hooked his arms around Nico’s neck in case his legs would give out. He let out a happy whimper, titling his head to the side to give Nico more room to work, but when the hot bubbling feeling in his chest got too strong he pulled away with a weak smile.

            “I think the food’s ready.”

            Nico smiled and finally took his hands off Leo, watching him pull a ladle and two bowls out of the cabinet. He poured two servings, and handed one to Nico so he could pull two spoons out of the drawer.

            “Here.” Leo smiled handing a spoon over.

            Nico took it, and walked over to the table with him. After they sat down, Nico took the first bite and nearly choked as he jumped to his feet, grasping for a cup of water that appeared before him.  After taking a swig of water, he cleared his throat and spoke.

            “I thought you said it was only a _little_ spicier than the soup.” Nico snapped

            “It is!” Leo huffed.

            “Oh yeah? Take a bite.”

            . Nico leaned on the table and eyed him with a smug grin. Leo glared at him in defiance and took huge bite just to make a point, which had his eyes watering in seconds.

            “See it is too hot!” Nico laughed.

            Leo snatched Nico’s cup of water and drained it.

            “T-That’s just because it didn’t cool off!” He snapped as he wiped his eyes with the neck of his shirt while a small bowl filled with a creamy white substance appeared next to his hand.

            “What is that?” said Nico

            “Plain yogurt, it should take the edge off.” Leo sighed as he scooped a large helping into his bowl and slide it over to Nico who did the same.

            From that point on, they ate in a comfortable silence they were both used to by now. Their chairs were pushed close together so they were side by side, and somewhere along Leo ended up with his right leg hooked around Nico’s left and his hand idly drumming _I love you_ on the boy’s thigh. Nico didn’t seem to mind the contact and ate with a soft smile as he grazed his thumb back and forth over the Leo’s hand.

             They were both so pleased with the turnout of events that were caught completely off guard when they heard a voice behind them.

            _“There you are!”_

The two of them froze.

            Then _slowly_ , Nico turned around, but he relaxed once he saw the speakers face.

            “Oh—gods Frank what happened? You look like hell.” Nico gasped.

            Leo immediately turned around to get a see, and _looks like hell_ was an understatement when he saw Frank. He was covered in dirt, cuts, bruises and bandages from the bottom up, and his clothes looked like he’d been put through a blender set to lacerate. This was so far beyond the usual beat up everyone got on missions, he was surprised Frank even had the strength to stand.

            “Believe it or not I actually came out alright, but everyone else didn’t get so lucky. They’re all in the sick bay and I need your help with patching them up and feeding ambrosia.” Frank said with a dark look.

            His expression was preoccupied, like he was speaking to them in a second thought while his mind was somewhere else, which for the two of them was a good thing as Frank didn’t seem to put two and two together and jump to a conclusion of as to why the they were sitting so close together, or why they were holding hands, or even why Leo was wearing Nico’s clothes.

            “Anyway, if you could . . . W-What’re you eating.” Frank mumbled with a sad, and particularly hungry puppy look.

            Nico snatched his bowl and held it out to Frank.

            “There’s more in the pot on the stove. You get something to eat, we’ll take care of the others.” said Nico promptly.  

            Frank sighed with a tired smile, and downed what was left in Nico’s bowl as he walked over to the kitchen. When Frank’s cut up back was turned, Nico wrapped his arm around Leo and shadow traveled to the boy’s room.

            “Wait here.” Nico said quickly before disappearing, and then reappearing with an armful of clothes that appeared to be Leo’s, though they were all clean. “I put all your dirty clothes in the washer this morning. . . I-I think you should change before we go see everyone else.”

            Leo blinked for a second, and then realized not everyone else would be as oblivious Frank.

            “Right, thanks.” Leo smiled.

            “Well then I’ll see you in the sick bay.” Nico said before disappearing again.

            And when he was gone, Leo’s face immediately fell.

            By the looks of Frank, they’d probably run into something pretty bad, and that usually meant the job was over. Everyone would be back on the ship like usual. No more quite evenings alone with Nico, and just when he’d finally been able to—.

            Leo’s thoughts short circuited as he brought a finger to his bottom lip and smiled. He remembered the feel of Nico’s lips on his and let out a happy sigh, then started humming a tune to himself, completely forgetting what he’d been irritated about moments ago as he got dressed and hurried over to the sick bay.  

* * *

 

            On the list of inventions he never thought he’d make, Ambrosia lollipops were an unexpected addition, but a very necessary one.  Percy and Hazel were in such terrible condition they couldn’t’ even swallow let alone chew one of the squares while Piper, Annabeth and Jason were eating so many squares they started running the risk of overdose. So a lollipop that would slowly release its power over time seemed like the best idea, though it raised several suspicions about why doctors always had lollipops at their offices.    

            Either way, by the time he’d finished helping Nico set them up with arm slings, splits to keep broken ankles straight, and robbed the ship of every last roll of bandage to wrap miles of it around the poor demigods, it was late into the night and their friends were fast asleep with lollipops hanging out of their mouths.

            Leo watched Nico wash off the last bit of dried blood off his hands and stare at them all with look that was too complex to read.

            “Come on. We have to take watch.” Nico said quietly.

            Leo nodded and followed him up out of the sick bay and down the hall, smiling when he saw Frank passed out as a bull dog a pile of pillows with an empty pot sitting at the foot of his bed.  He closed Frank’s door, and continued on in a somewhat strained silence with Nico until they finally came out on the empty deck.

            The weather had changed again, and a hot breeze was blowing through. Nico shed his jacket and hung it off his shoulder, so his own bandages made it look like he had a mummies arm in the moonlight.

            “What are you going to do about your arm?” Leo spoke up after a while.

            “Huh?”

            “We used all of the bandages on the ship, don’t you have to-”

            “Oh I changed it this morning before I took a shower.” Nico said nonchalant as he smiled up at the newly restored mainmast.

            After a while he turned to look at Leo, who was frowning and staring at the ground with a glum look.

            “What’s wrong?” said Nico.

            “Nothing.” Leo pouted.

            _“Leo.”_ Nico said sternly.

            Leo looked away and wrapped his arms around his chest.  

            “Taking care of your arm was supposed to be _my_ job. If I can’t do that how am I supposed to make it up to you?” Leo huffed. 

            Nico rolled his eyes. He grabbed Leo by the waist, pulled him close and closed his mouth over his.

            He could feel Leo relax in his arms and cling to him, and there was a strange sort of satisfaction in it as he deepened the kiss.

            Finally, he broke away and hung an arm around Leo’s neck, resting his weight on him.

            “Well, you can keep bringing me food . . . and you can keep making those cute noises when I kiss you.” Nico mumbled in his ear.

            “But. . .” Leo mumbled.

            “You can also stop worrying so much.” Nico sighed.

            He heard Leo let out a small grumble of sorts, and felt the boy’s embrace get a little tighter.

            “I like you a lot. . .” Leo mumbled.

            “I like you a lot too.” Nico replied.

            Leo opened his eyes just in time to watch the world go dark around him. When his vision came back, he watched waves roll on the ocean’s surface but it was so far away it looked like gusts of wind passing through a field of blue wheat, and the sky was still so high up above their heads dusted with a beautiful galaxy of stars, it felt like he was in a different world.

            “Now I know why you like coming up here.” He said quietly.

            “Mmmhmm.” Nico hummed as he lifted his head from Leo’s shoulder and pressed their lips together in a gentle kiss.

            The corners of Leo’s eyes crinkled with a smile, then slowly closed as he rested his back against the post. With his arms around Nico’s neck, he took one last look at the starry sky before dissolving into bliss. 

**Author's Note:**

> ////Update as of 12/13/14 
> 
> I dont like writing anymore so i wanted to delete the fic but last time i did that lots of people got sad so i'll just orphan in it case anyone might still want to read it? 
> 
> Bye Bye!


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